Thyolo District Hospital has opened a High Dependency Unit (HDU) as part of reforms at the hospital.
The unit was opened on December 17 at the hospital.
Director of health and social services for Thyolo Dr. Arnold Jumbe said the establishment of the high dependent unit at the hospital is part of reforms that the management team presented to the Ministry of Economic Planning and Public Sector Reforms.
“As a hospital we are glad that we have managed to commission this HDU which has already started addressing some of the challenges that the hospital encountered, for instance, referral challenges.
“We are also glad to announce that this HDU is one of the successful reforms we have done after signing an agreement with the vice president of Malawi that as Thyolo we have to reduce distances that people travel for them to get assistance. I can say, we have just started because more reforms are underway,” said Jumbe.
He said before establishment of HDU, the hospital had a lot of challenges as it was failing to provide full support to some easy illness.
“We had a very difficult situation before this HDU as most patients needed referrals. For example, patients that were very sick, those that have involved in accidents, those with complicated surgeries, those that have non communicable diseases such as TB and Hypertension needed referrals to Queen Elizabeth Hospital. So it was really bad situation because we were using a lot of resources that cost us money and time, for instance, from here to Blantyre is almost 50 kilometers in which time taken can cause anything to happen, even losing life of the patient in the way. But establishment of this HDU has eased and easing all these complications,” said Jumbe.
Jumbe added that now the hospital has reduced referrals with the establishment of HDU saying as of now they have already treated 4 patients who have recovered.
He then called upon all well-wishers to support with any kind of assistance saying currently there are only 2 beds but there are plans to have 6 beds, monitors, fridges, and oxygen cylinders.
Commenting on the matter, Thyolo district council chair Sandram Maulana said the district will benefit a lot from the HDU.
“We are going to benefit more as a district. As you aware from here to QECH is too far and needs fuel and is time consuming in as far as health conditions for a patient is concerned. So as we have witnessed the opening of this HDU, it is for the betterment of people of Thyolo,” said Maulana.
The establishment of the High Dependent Unit has cost approximately 6 million kwacha which has been derived from Other Recurrent Transactions (ORT) fund.
