Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH), through the Department of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, has received two newly refurbished Mafupa Operating Theatres from the AO Alliance and its partners.
The AO Alliance and its partners invested MK216 million (USD 125,000 $) in a three-month project that renovated the theatre that deals with patients’ musculoskeletal pain.
In his remarks, the Managing Director for the AO Alliance, Dr. Claude Martin Jr., said his organisation thought it wise to renovate the operating theatres to help ease the burden that the department was facing.
“We have been involved in Malawi in one form or another in the care of the injured since early 2010 and in 2015, we conducted a needs assessment to see how we could improve the care of the injured in Malawi. The Mafupa Operating Theatres first became operational in 2017. Since then, unfortunately, they have experienced some wear and tear due to a lack of maintenance.
“Earlier this year, I was here for a training course, and we toured around with our project officer Precious Kamange. We realized that we had to do something to refurbish the operating theatres. Thankfully, the AO Alliance Board agreed to fund the project.
“This is for Malawian patients, doctors, and nurses who work here, it is a nice environment to work in. Trauma and orthopaedic surgery are very complicated because you need a lot of equipment and implants, but you also need a sterile environment.
“You need a clean place to do your operations because an infected fracture is an absolute disaster. Together with our other partners, including KidsOR and the Johnson & Johnson Foundation, we have been instrumental in advancing healthcare capacity-building programs in Malawi.
“During the months of renovation works in the operating theatres, we had an excellent collaboration with the hospital administration. We were able to implement alternative measures to enable surgeries to be performed and deal with the incoming traumatic injuries. The contractor, from Malawi, who did the renovation did an amazing job.
The director of the hospital, Dr. Kelvin Mponda hailed the AO Alliance and its partners for this timely gesture, saying QECH, being one of the few referral hospitals in the country, needed such a magnificent facility to help patients with Musculoskeletal problems
“This is a very great day for us. Injuries and musculoskeletal diseases form a big chunk of the work that we do. Some of the patients who stay the longest before they receive care come from the Orthopedics Department and this is largely due to the increasing number of patients that we receive and also our lack of ability to cope with those numbers through the availability of space to do the operations so when AO Alliance came in to first build this theatre and also to renovate so that we improve our ability to operate and you can imagine how happy we are,” he said.
He was also quick to warn patients and some hospital staff members that his administration would not spare them if they were caught vandalising the facility.
“You see, this theatre is like any building that can be built anywhere else. So, we have installations here like electrical installations and planning installations and we have seen unfortunate tendencies by some sections of society, the patients and also staff, stealing, removing some of these installations for their use by taking them home, leaving patients that require those things. So, this cannot be accepted, and we have taken steps that whosoever we find should be disciplined. We have already recommended the dismissal of some staff members who were found on the wrong side of the law,” he explained.
The head of the department, Dr Nohakhelha Nyamulani said before the renovations, the department could only afford to treat a smaller number of people because they were using one theatre, but this latest development will see an improvement in the number of patients that will receive treatment.
“Before the AO Alliance and their partners built this facility for us, we were operating in one theatre and in that theatre, we were only able to operate at least 30 to 40 patients per month but with the coming in of this theatre, we will be able to operate more patients and to increase the pace at which we do these operations,” she said.
She further revealed that the department receives about 600 to 800 patients per month and out of the patients, 300 require surgeries but they only offer urgent to about 80 to 100 patients per month.
“These are major surgeries that involve musculoskeletal injuries, infections and some cancers that affect the bones. 95 per cent of our work deals with traumatic conditions that need urgent attention and this renovated theatre will help us a lot,” she concluded.
