Malawi’s Health Minister Madalitso Baloyi has called on district councils across the country to set up paying wards in their hospitals, insisting the scheme is helping to raise vital funds for the struggling public health sector. “Paying wards are not meant to replace free public healthcare. They are an opportunity for hospitals to generate additional revenue that can be reinvested into improving health services,” Baloyi said. “The opening of this paying ward will help reduce congestion that we sometimes experience in the general facility while giving patients who can pay access to improved healthcare services,” she said. The move comes as part of a broader drive to shore up Malawi’s healthcare system, with officials hoping paying wards can help ease the funding pressures weighing on public hospitals across the country.