We were talking with the administrator at Kachere Orthopedic Hospital, Malawi’s only orthopedic hospital. Sitting at the conference table in the facility in Blantyre he picked up his pen, thought for a minute and listed the number of therapists in the country.
"There are 2 in Queens in Blantyre, but they are from Norway and leaving in November. Zomba has 2. At the Malawi Against Disabilities facility in Lilongwe there are 2 of them, and 1 in the government hospital. There are 3 teaching in Blantyre, but none in Mzuzu. Among the private ones there are three in Lilongwe. I think this is all we have in the country," he said.
This was our second time to visit the hospital in less than a year and again we marveled at the work the staff is doing with a limited amount of resources. However, we have seen some improvement in the past year, and a second shipment of equipment and supplies has just arrived from the Malawi Project in America. It will help, and help is all that is needed today.