By Makur Adut

Authorities in Lakes State arrested a private clinic owner over the death of a 28-year-old woman in Malekagok Payam of Rumbek East County on Tuesday.

Lakes State Police Spokesman, Major Elijah Makuac, said according to the information, the woman was diagnosed with Malaria at the clinic by the suspected health personnel.

“Therefore, she was injected and died instantly. So, the medical personnel involved was arrested, and the investigation is still going on to find out whether the drug that she was injected with caused her death or from other circumstances and also to prove the profession of the accused, whether he is a trained medical personnel or not,” he said.

The Medical Director of Rumbek State Hospital, Dr. Terran Madit Terran, cautioned those who often seek treatment at private clinics and drug shops.

“Well, for us, we don’t have problems as government hospitals or institutions, but all in all, the patients or the individual have a right to seek medical services wherever he/she wants. But our worry is how the guarantee is that clinic or that drug store is because most of the people outside are not drug personnel or they are not right people to treat the patients and prescribe drugs,” he said.

“This is a system. We have government hospitals, and at the same time, we should also have a private sector, whereby we have qualified doctors and health personnel to run their private business, which we don’t have a problem with.”

Dr. Madit added that the problem is that local people often don’t listen to medical advice, saying someone who has a mere certificate in First Aid could just decide to open a clinic or drugs store yet they do not have the right knowledge.

“You should be a trained doctor regardless of whether it is in the hospital or the private sector at least. We need to be seen. We need to be treated by the people who are really in the field, and they know what they are doing because nowadays we have incidences that are arising, and it has to do with people being treated outside.”

He outlined that they have registered a lot of incidents of mal-injection, sometimes kind of complications secondary to being treated outside by unqualified or untrained health personnel in the villages.

‘Sometimes, we may receive them early enough. We treat them, and then they get recovered. Sometimes they come very late, they end up with terrible kinds of disability. This kind of mul-injection is very common in children. So, my advice to the community outside, parents or families is that at least if you don’t want to come to government hospital and instead you decided to seek treatment at a private clinic in the market, make sure that the one you are going to is a trained health personnel.”