Mchinji, Malawi … In Malawi there are 28 districts, (like states in the U.S. or Provinces in Canada), and in each one there is a district hospital. The network of rural hospitals, spread throughout the countryside, feeds into the districts. When cases are too difficult for the rural hospital, or when there are not enough supplies, personnel, or equipment, a transfer is made to the district facility. Located 100 kilometers west of the capital city of Lilongwe, Mchinji is on the border with Zambia. When patients must be transferred from the Mchinji Hospital, they go to the tier 1 hospital, Kamuzu Central Hospital on the east side of Lilongwe. These are the most critical cases, those who are in danger of dying and are those patients who need special attention or when supplies, or equipment are not available in Mchinji.”
According to District Medical Officer, Francis Jere, “we try our best to treat patients in our facility. However, when we must transfer them all the way to Lilongwe, because of lack of equipment, it is very risky and sometimes we lose patients on the way. We have been planning to open a High Dependency Unit (HDU), but we did not know where to start.”
To deal with the problem the medical team at Mchinji turned to Action for Progress. Wilson Tembo, Executive Director for AfP picks up the story. “When Mchinji reached out to us we determined to help them in any way possible. Thanks to our contributors we had recently received a large shipment of medical equipment and supplies. We were able to immediately assist them.”
Upon receiving the equipment, the Mchinji district officer applauded AfP for its quick response. He noted, “Our dream and plans to open this critically needed unit will be easy because the needed equipment is now here. We do not take this contribution for granted but rather we are grateful the challenges we were facing are now behind us. There will be no need to refer patients so far away once we get this unit open.”
The district hospital in Mchinji has a bed capacity of 290 and serves a population of more than 681,000 people. The receipt of the much needed equipment and supplies was so significant it received nationwide news coverage on the Zodiak News Network.