Medical Drugs Give Hope
The Machinga District Hospital is located in the city and district that carries the same name. It is located in the southern region of the country a few miles east of the Liwonde Game Park, and northwest of Lake Chilwa, the second largest lake in the country. Around the lake there are 335 villages with over 60,000 inhabitants engaging in fishing. They catch over 17,000 metric tons of fish each year. The district of Machinga covers an area of 3,771 square km, and has a population of 369,614 people.
The district hospital is one of the major referral heath facilities in Malawi. It is one of 28 district facilities to which small health centers refer their patients. Machinga is frequently faced with a shortage of all types of medicine and medical supplies. This 300-bed facility struggles to provide essential services to a referral population of 538,345 people.
Receiving a recent donation from the Malawi Project, the District Nursing Officer (DNO) acknowledged the importance of the donation, noting that it gives relief to her work force and patients. “These drugs and supplies we get as donations greatly supplement the little that the hospital have”, Rose Kanyangalazi said. Also commenting, the Pharmacy technician for the hospital noted, “We needed these drugs, including the metronidazole very badly.”
With support from a number of international aid groups, and individuals and small groups, the Malawi Project and the Namikango Mission are able to deliver critically needed medicine for patients who would otherwise die without adequate medical attention.