Cost Of Living

Last Tuesday a colleague shared her experience with me about the realities of life in the high density urban areas around our cities.

The area in question is Ngómbe Compound, and the incident in question is Health Services at the local clinic.

My colleagues’ niece is 20 years old and had recently married a 30 year old man who is employed as a Gardener in Chamba Valley. In addition, this 30 year old man inherited his late mother’s house in the compound and his 5 siblings whose ages range from 28 to 6 years old. This head of the household is the only reliable bread winner in the family while his younger brothers peddle in various local beverages to earn some income to supplement their food requirements.

On that fateful Sunday two weeks ago, the young wife was taken to Ngómbe Clinic with all the necessary requirements to deliver her first baby. The family had struggled to buy a new surgical blade to sever the umbilical cord, a new surgical umbilical cord peg, 4 new pairs of surgical gloves, a new delivery chitenge, a bag of cotton wool, and the usual new baby requisites of receiving blanket, napkins, pins, and clothing.

The delivery went through without a hitch and the baby girl was born at 22.00 hours that Sunday 6^th April, 2008. Mother and baby were doing just fine on the Monday morning and all seemed well.

On Tuesday afternoon the mother noticed that the baby was running a fever and was very uncomfortable. Thanks to the experiences and wisdom of the elders that had come to see the new baby, both mother and baby were taken back to the Ngómbe clinic for medical attention. The medical personnel were unable to deal with the situation but noted that the umbilical cord area was infected and was the cause of the fever. The new baby was then referred to the University Teaching Hospital for specialist treatment. Both the mother and father realised that they had to act fast and resorted to asking friends and relatives to chip in and book a K30,000 taxi to speedily take the baby to the UTH instead of the usual option of a two hour mini bus ride that must pass through town centre.

At the UTH the baby was attended to after a seemingly long wait and the doctors concluded that the infection was as a result of a soiled or dirty umbilical cord peg that was used to clamp the cord during the birth of the child.

The baby and mother were immediately admitted into hospital for treatment and observation since the baby was fragile and not even 2 days old. Let’s remember that UTH does not admit a patient unnecessarily so the doctors must have been quite worried about the state of the new born baby.

The baby’s mother, father and other relatives were all perplexed that a brand new umbilical cord blade and peg that were brought to Ngómbe Clinic sealed in their wrappers could be soiled or dirty. The family had made sure that their first baby was going to get the best support and treatment that they could afford, but now they were faced with huge transport bills to UTH and back, huge food bills for the mother while at UTH, huge drugs bills for any drugs that may be prescribed by the doctors at UTH, and no doubt severe losses to the father’s wages as he takes time off from work to tend to his new born and wife in hospital.

Judging by the difference in type of umbilical peg clamped on the baby’s stomach compared what they had given the medical staff, the family feels quite confident that the staff at Ngómbe Clinic had taken all the requisites for their child’s birth and sold them to other patients for some quick cash while the intended baby was clamped with a re-used peg, had her cord cut with a re-used blade, and was handled with re-used gloves which ultimately resulted in the infection suffered by the new born. This negligent greed has brought a host of new expenses that were not bargained for and now threatens the life of this innocent child. Such is the price for being poor and being voiceless.

This episode may be seen to be full of speculation and innuendo but it resonates with many Zambians who live in the compounds around our towns and cities. Who has not experienced a similar story in respect to their children, siblings, parents, grandparents or any other relatives and friends? We all have. It is worth acknowledging that even those people that have medical rescue insurance that evacuates them to South Africa for emergency medical treatment are at the mercy of our own healthcare systems when they are involved in an accident with nobody to point out what should be done for them. A person injured in an accident, or the victim of some sudden disease, also becomes voiceless. These people will find themselves in the UTH or any other Government run hospital or clinic and they will be brought down to the level of the compound dweller in Ngómbe.

Our quality of life is greatly affected by the quality of health care that we are exposed to. The Government has made its efforts to provide healthcare throughout the nation. The time has come to hold hands among the three parties – Government, Private Sector and Civil Society, to work together in collaboration and partnership to provide acceptable healthcare to all in Zambia.

Published 22 April 2008