By Jones Gadama
Frustration boiled over at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital’s Under-5 Clinic this week after guardians reported multiple cases of missing blood samples, forcing children to undergo repeated venipunctures and prompting some parents to take their sick children home untreated.
247Malawinews visited the clinic on Tuesday and found several guardians queuing with toddlers, complaining that blood drawn for tests had disappeared from hospital records. Patients would wait hours or even a day for results, only to be told the samples could not be found and new ones had to be collected. For some children, this happened three times in one admission.
“They took blood on Monday, told us to wait. Tuesday they said it was missing. They took again, Wednesday same story,” said one mother holding a 2-year-old. “By the third time we started asking, what are they doing with our children’s blood? We discharged ourselves because we were scared.”
Other guardians at the ward echoed the fear, shouting questions about whether blood was being sold or misused. Many said they refused a third draw and left the hospital despite their children still needing care. The repeated draws raised medical concerns, as multiple needle pricks on children under five can cause pain, anemia, and trauma.
Efforts to get an explanation from hospital staff hit a wall. A laboratory technician approached by Maravipost declined to comment, saying staff are barred from speaking to the media. The hospital administrator was unavailable for comment, and calls to Minister of Health Mada Baloyi went unanswered.
QECH is Malawi’s largest referral hospital and handles thousands of pediatric cases monthly. Loss of lab samples at the Under-5 Clinic undermines diagnosis and treatment, especially for conditions like malaria, pneumonia, and anemia that require urgent lab confirmation. It also erodes public trust in the health system.
Health experts say proper sample management requires barcoding, chain-of-custody logs, and secure transport between wards and labs. When these systems fail, patients pay the price through delays, extra costs, and emotional distress.
For now, guardians at the Under-5 Clinic say they are left with more questions than answers. “We bring our children to be helped, not to be used,” one father said as he walked out with his daughter after refusing a third blood draw.
The Ministry of Health is yet to issue a statement on the matter.
