Kamuzu Central Hospital(KCH) has hiked its bypass fee from K2 500 to K10 000 effective August 1 2023.

This is the fee that patients pay when they go to the referral hospital without being sent, as a referral case, by a health centre they initially visited.

A statement released and signed by hospital director Dr. Jonathan Ngoma says most patients go to the referral hospital without referral letters contrary to what is expected.

Ngoma stressed in the statement that those without referral letters and are unable to pay the bypass fee will be sent back to the nearest health centres.