Amid reservations from various quarters over the US$6.8 billion Malawi has been promised to receive from Bridgin Foundation, Vice Chancellor for Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS), Professor MacPherson Mallewa, has expressed joy that KUHeS will get a state of the art teaching hospital city worth US$1 billion.
The university hosted Bridgin Foundation’s President, Prof. Tanko Mouhamadou and Program Director, Christophe Prieels at KUHeS main campus.
The aim of the visit was to meet several stakeholders and discuss their role in the US$ 6.8 billion investment that the foundation is providing to the government of Malawi.
Mallewa said KUHeS is blessed to get the hospital through the foundation.
“To be identified as one of the first beneficiaries of this investment is a blessing to us and as a University we will continue to work hard to show the world that we are here to provide first-class health care services and training to Malawians and the rest of the world,” said Prof. Mallewa.
During the event, Mouhamadou gave an overview of Bridgin Foundation and how it contributes to the economic, social and industrial development of emerging countries by funding their priority projects and programmes.
Bridgin’s Program Director, Christopher Prieels said Malawi has competent people who have the agenda of progress at heart and that Bridgin Foundation would work with such to advance the developmental agenda of the country.
“Malawi stands to benefit a lot from this investment and we are excited to assist the country and we will work with the different institutions to contribute to the attainment of the 2063 goals” said Prieels.
According to KUHeS, the high-tech teaching hospital will be built in Chileka and among others, it will have satellites in Mzuzu, Lilongwe and Mangochi. It will be a fully-fledged hospital city with a shopping complex, five-star hotel, recreational facilities, students’ and staff accommodation, conference centre, Green energy, water recycling and treatment centre. The teaching hospital is also expected to improve doctor to patient ratio tremendously and will promote inbound medical tourism in Malawi.
The US$ 6.8 billion (over K7 trillion) which has been described as a grant was signed by Government on Monday.
Critics say the funding appears to be a scam since Bridgin has not disclosed the source of its funds and how it is going to benefit from the deal with Malawi. There are also reports that some countries signed similar deals with the foundation but did not receive the promised funds.
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