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Malawi Health Care Support UK Newsletters
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"... My visit was an enormous adventure and challenge. I was not prepared for the impact of the poverty on me, ... I had been determined not to travel as a tourist on my first visit to Africa, but to experience life in Malawi as Malawians do.
"My visit to the country's health sector started with Mr Manda, Head of Planning at the ministry with whom I discussed the seemingly overwhelming problems facing the health sector. This left me totally depressed and feeling that the situation was helpless"
Travelling by public transport Mrs Travena visited Ntchisi Hospital stopping at Mponela Rural Hospital and Mponela AIDS Information and Counselling Centre.
"The hospital [Mponela] was quite a desperate place, dark and dismal with dust everywhere. I was shown the dressing room, a tiny windowless cubicle with no electric light. Some unfortunate patient was having a wound dressed in there.
"Ntchisi hospital, apparently quite new, looked impressive, if a little out of place in the middle of nowhere ... there was no overcrowding. Dr. Bwanaisa put this down to the fact that people in rural areas are not used to going to hospital and also to the attitude of nursing staff."
Mrs Travena was taken on a guided tour of Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH), Blantyre by Mrs. Wazikili, a fellow physiotherapist.
"The tour of the main hospital was the hardest part of my visit ... I was quite distressed at the poverty and misery I saw ... overcrowded and dismal looking. No curtains at the windows or screens round the beds, patients on mats on the floor between or under the beds, often no sheets, just rough grey blankets. The patients looked so lost and forlorn, lying passively ... as if they expected nothing. The overwhelming impression was of sights, sounds and smells of human suffering.
"The physiotherapy department ... could have been anywhere in thee world ... There were wall bars, parallel bars, mats on the floor where assistants were exercising children with cerebal palsy, piles of crutches, Zimmer frames and an array of electrotherpay equipment. Unfortunately the majority of this equipment donated from the UK and other countries can not be used because there are no instruction manuals with it ... A valuable lesson if we are going to send our outdated but usable stuff."
"After Queen's, and the hustle and bustle of Blantyre, we went to Mwanza, near the Mozambican border ... This quiet hospital in this idyllic setting in the border mountains was a very welcome change. The Mwanza Motel was the nicest place we stayed ... I decided if I win a lottery I will go and stay at the Motel and work at the hospital ... I do not think I would be strong enough to work at Queen's.
"From Mwanza we had a few days rest in Liwonde, at the edge of the National Park ... I particularly wanted to visit Zomba Mental Hospital ... I was rather nervous of what I might find after Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital ... If anything the absolute need is worse at the Mental Hospital, but somehow the atmosphere is much better. The hospital is quite old, set on a hillside outside town. I was made most welcome and shown around. The atmosphere was relaxed, informal and friendly ... The wards were just as bear as the yards outside ... few beds, no screens, no cupboards, chairs or tables - many of the beds had no blankets or sheets. The hospital is meant to house about 320 patients, but houses between 300 and 500. They have 150 beds, the rest sleep on the floor on mattresses if they are lucky, otherwise they sleep on grass mats.
"There seemed to be a thriving Occupational Therapy department ... However I saw a great need for many of the patients here to be engaged in physical activity. I resolved that perhaps instead of idyllic Mwanza, I could work quite happily at the Zomba Mental Hospital.
"After Zomba I felt I had visited enough hospitals. We made it north to Livingstonia, one of the major early missions. This was a fascinating place but unfortunately the hospital here was closed. It appears that during the summer nearly all the Christian Hospitals of Malawi (CHAM) facilities were closed because of failure of the government to pay the Malawian staff. This is a desperate situation as CHAM apparently provides 40% of the Health care in the country.
"A couple of weeks ago I gave a talk to some of my colleagues about my experience of the health service in Malawi and I was quite shocked ... tears welled up again as I recounted my visit to QECH ... such overwhelming need.
"Since my return it has been in my mind to establish a link between the Mental Health Unit in Harrogate and Zomba Mental Hospital. Several of my colleagues are interested in becoming involved. I do not know how long it will be before I can go to Malawi again, but I will return."