Healthcare Across Borders
Chinese doctors assist more Malawian patients to access to healthcare service
Due to the shortage of health personnel in Malawi, some communities often find it difficult to access healthcare service. Some of the people most affected are those in orphanages, as it’s not easy to find medical personnel to visit them, resulting in spreading infections and sometimes negative outcomes in critical illness. Matilda Dambula, representing one of the orphanages in the Central Region of Malawi, said she gave up any idea of having health personnel visit her place.
She said it is tough because of the big numbers of orphans, many of whom were very young and there was no transport to take them to clinics or hospitals.
“We have been trying to bring health personnel like doctors [to our orphanage], but to no avail. As a result, our kids suffer hopelessly.”
Chinese doctors assist
However, the situation has been eased by the arrival of Chinese doctors who carry out specialist treatment to communities, including those in orphanages.
Recently Malawi’s First Lady Monica Chakwera took a group of Chinese doctors to assist at the Home of Hope orphanage in Mchinji District of the Central Region.
“We are thankful to what China is doing to [assist] Malawi. The Chinese government is also paying the school fees for more than 90 children in Malawi. Government cannot manage to do everything, therefore, the support by other partners like China cannot be taken for granted,” said Chakwera.
Recognising the importance of the event, Chinese Ambassador to Malawi Long Zhou was present and said that bringing in of doctors is part of the activities of Warm Children’s Hearts, a health project launched by China and Africa that provides care to African orphans.
“The doctors are from different disciplines such as paediatrics, gynaecology and internal medicine. They will be here for a year, but we are consulting with the National Health Commission to dispatch more,” said Long.
The doctors are based at Kamuzu Central Hospital in the capital city of Lilongwe and Mzuzu Central Hospital in the Northern Region city of Mzuzu, according to the ambassador.
It was all smiles at Home of Hope orphanage, who hoped that the increased number of doctors would be of great benefit. Orphanage Chairperson Penston Kilimbe described it as strategic as far as healthcare is concerned.
Kilimbe disclosed that the orphanage had 675 children, many of whom need medical attention on site at the same time.
“This number [of children] is big as such and we need health service right here. We were told that there were a shortage of doctors; but the fact that the Chinese doctors are here and also that you [the First Lady] have introduced them to us, [means] we will see some change,” she said, who added that they would ask the doctors to examine the children even if they are not sick as a preventive measure.
Bringing convenience
The Home of Hope orphanage was founded by Reverend Thomson Chipeta in the 1990s to assist children who lost their parents to HIV/AIDS.
One of the doctors assigned to the orphanage Zhu Jinwen told ChinAfrica that the team is ready to assist as many people as possible to live healthy lives.
“We do not have any target, but [we will assist] as many people as possible. We try to be always available when people or local staff need us. As long as we are able to assist people whenever they are in need, that is fine [with us],” said Zhu.
He added that apart from assisting people at the referral hospitals of Kamuzu Central and Mzuzu, they also provided free clinics at a number of centres, including orphanages.
“In addition to that, we teach first aid technics and introduced traditional Chinese medicine for Good Shepherd International Primary School students and Malawi University of Science and Technology,” said Zhu.
According to the Chinese doctors, they encounter patients with severe diseases such as chronic fractures. Zhu noted that probably because of lack of medication and medical specialists, a lot of patients have treatment delayed.
“We have cases of patients with blood pressure as high as 200mmHg, diabetic patients with blood glucose of over 400mg/dl and abdomen tumours as big as a football. For me as an orthopaedic spine surgeon, I see a lot of patients with infection and malunion of chronic fractures. A local staff once told me that, ‘nothing is fresh here,’ meaning that most of the fractures are delayed for surgery either because of lack of staff and implants, or lack of theatre space for surgery. This shocked me,” said Zhu.
LONG ZHOU Chinese ambassador to Malawi
The doctors are from di%erent disciplines such as paediatrics, gynaecology and internal medicine. They will be here for a year, but we are consulting with the National Health Commission to dispatch more.
Civil society organisations in Malawi have long been complaining about the cost of bringing in doctors from abroad, saying the country might not be able to pay them.
But the Chinese Embassy clarified that all the expenses on the Chinese doctors while in Malawi would be covered by China, which Zhu confirmed.
“We come from various hospitals in China and they are the ones that are paying our salaries. We are not getting any salary here,” he said.
Good reputation
Meanwhile, Malawi’s Minister of Health Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda expressed satisfaction with the Chinese doctors in terms of work rate. Chiponda disclosed that a number of former patients have praised them, especially their patience during consultation.
“They [the Chinese doctors] are highly professional and dedicated to [their] duty. They ensure that time for work is used for work and vice versa,” said Chiponda. “I have heard a number of positive stories about them. They are an example to our local health personnel and I hope that they will be here for a while.”
Madalitso Mtokoma, a former patient at Kamuzu Central Hospital who was attended to by the Chinese doctors, agreed with the minister on their professionalism. Recalling her experience, Mtokoma said the Chinese doctor who treated her was calm and attentive, listening to her problem through an interpreter. She has since made a full recovery.
Malawi is among 55 countries worldwide that are short in healthcare workers, according to a World Health Organisation report.
It also recommends that a population of 1,000 should be served by at least five health workers, but in Malawi, the same population is being served by 0.5 healthcare workers.