Cleaners examining patients at clinic?

LINDA SOKO TEMBO writes SOME Chilanga residents are concerned that a named health centerhas been using cleaners to examine patients. This follows a complaint from parents whose one-month-old baby was allegedly examined by a cleaner with dirty gloves at a named health facility in Chilanga. In separate interviews, the father of the child, Brian Bwalya, said he was shocked when they took the baby at a health center after suspecting that he had jaundice and wanted a referral letter to take the child to the University Teaching Hospital (UTH). Mr Bwalya said he explained to the Sister in Charge the condition of the baby and they were taken to see two midwives and the baby was put on the bed in the labour ward where a cleaner was busy cleaning the ward.  He said the cleaner did not have a facemask and she was wearing gloves while mopping the labour ward and that after a while she stopped mopping and started examining the baby. “She opened the baby’s mouth wide to check the baby, with her dirty gloves and as I moved closer she proceeded to open the eyes of the baby so that the nurses could see what was troubling the baby,” Mr Bwalya said. “As parents we are concerned and spoke to the Sister in Charge but she said cleaners were trained to help nurses at their facility and they were like assistants, but she later apologised for what happened,” he said. Mr Bwalya said that as a family they were saddened and living in fear because they did not know what disease or contaminants were on the gloves when the cleaners was busy examining the baby and not health workers. And a concerned resident Bertha Mwamba said it was sad that cleaners were being allowed to be assistants to nurses when they were not professionally trained. The Sun