By Duncan Mlanjira
There is a huge divide amongst medical doctors following the leakage of their WhatsApp chat that strongly criticized the conduct of Medical Council of Malawi (MCM) chairperson, Prof. John Chisi over his presence at mass political rally despite deep concerns that these large gatherings can be a bleeding ground for further infections of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Chisi, who is president of Umodzi Party, was seen at the Tonse Alliance mass rally in Lilongwe on Sunday, which displeased the doctors and took to their WhatsApp group to question his action, saying as leader of a supreme health body of the country, he should live by example by adhering to the preventive measures such as observance of social distancing that is being flouted at these political rallies.
At the centre of it all is Prof. John Chisi
It was observed that this is setting very dangerous precedence, saying this could make sense coming from a non-medical politician, not a medical doctor of Chisi’s caliber, who was once a lecturer at the College of Medicine.
But Chisi justified his presence at the Tonse Alliance mass rally, saying COVID-19 suspects and those that are sick do not attend to rallies.
He had told the group that COVID-19 suspects are quarantined and that the situation is under control as the country has only experienced three deaths and the others are recovering, saying “these are all positives to the profession”.
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The conversations on the WhatsApp group was then leaked to the public where Maravi Express picked it up and when Chisi was approached, he just accused the doctors’ group of being “unethical for forwarding private conversations from groups of professionals”.
As soon as the story was published, some senior members of the group were incensed with anger and issued ultimatum to whosoever leaked the conversation to confess before they discover on their own who the culprit is.
At the forefront of this witch hunting is Dr. Yotam Moyo, who has since removed some of the suspects from the WhatsApp group and are poised for disciplinary action.
Huge political gatherings that are trending
On Monday, Dr. Moyo made an announcement on the forum that said: “I call upon the person who knows he or she is behind the leakage to come to my inbox ASAP!
“This is the only way we can safely handle this issue to avoid people from identifying you by themselves because we will have less control on what they decide to do.
“Investigations are nearing conclusion and in the spirit of sincerity and honesty it will be better to come first by yourself in case it was not intentional or otherwise.”
Coronavirus alert
The threats continued from Monday when the story was published and by Tuesday evening, they had zeroed in on a few individuals who are suspected could be the culprits but are far from being them.
One doctor even suggested that they should also proceed with taking legal action on this reporter “for being involved in a confidential, private and professional conversation”.
Another doctor expressed fear that when such messages are copied then their numbers are shown and this is “very unsafe in this political environment”.
Coronavirus alert
Moyo continued to demand that the culprit should come out on their own accord and when no one did, three names were put forward as suspects, none of which were this reporter’s source.
However, a source confided with this reporter that the grouping has always been divided on political lines and that those that are suspected to be politically inclined for the opposition parties are always targeted for any mishaps that arise.
Coronavirues alert: Respect to health workers
Chisi himself, when contacted if he has a hand in the witch hunting, strongly denied that he is part of the persecution, saying: “I cannot stoop that low. I cannot do that.
“I told you [in our earlier chat] that it is unethical for doctors to forward forum professional messages. The members of the forum are unhappy with the one who forwarded the message.”
He then said: “Thanks for showing that professionalism is lacking in our profession and that the leaked information that was shared to the public was for building the profession.”
Coronavirus alert
Moyo was the one in the forefront to criticize Chisi and in one comment he had said: “Sounds like you advocate for one to be a chameleon changing statements based on where they are.
“In a fight against a disease like Covid you better be quiet on rallies if you are such a high profile or excuse yourself from talking.
“But going to talk against what we believe and showing up the following morning here to do the opposite is extremely difficult for us to buy.”
One other doctor asked: “Have you also considered being absent from rallies altogether? It can save your professional credibility if these are the battles you will face.”
Coronavirus alert
But Chisi had replied that “rallies are what politicians do. No rallies no politics”.
Chisi then suggested that maybe there should be more testing to be done and identify those that have recovered to share their experience with the public, using them to advocate for behavioral change.
He was asked by the doctors to make that suggestion at the next political rally because there “it will carry more weight”.
“We look up to you as our ambassador, Prof. You have a special audience than most of us. Use that opportunity to educate the masses.”