September 14th 2009-Blog from Mary: Progress and news from Bwaila
24th September, 2009Sept 8th Lilongwe 2009
All is progressing well towards the opening of the new hospital with great excitement in the air I t is a real honour for the Rose Project to welcome former President of Ireland and UN High Comminissioner for Human Rights, to officially opening the hospital along with the Vice President of Malawi. Dr Robinson President of Realizing rights is championing the issue of maternal mortality
Whilst the building is ready the greatest challenge is the acute shortage of healthcare workers. The Rose Project along with a number of International partners including UNICEF is working to address the situation in particular the shortage of doctors and nurses. With the generous support of UNICEF we have employed a full time very experienced midwife Rachel Macleod, to work alongside her Malawian counterparts. Rachel’s made aim is to assist the senior nursing staff at the hospital, with up schilling of midwives and overseeing the smooth transition from old to new maternity hospitals.
In addition the Royal college of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG UK) is assisting The Rose Project to source medical staff from outside the country as a temporary measure, with 12,000 annual births at the hospital and only one full time resident obstetrician, all the assistance possible is needed. The good news is that the Malawian government is funding the College of Medicine to train more doctors however it will be a long time before there is a sufficient number. In addition it will be vital to ensure that the working conditions for these individuals is attractive otherwise when training is complete they will leave the country. There is an additional cadre of healthcare worker in Malawi, which does not exist n Europe. Clinical Officers carry out a four year training programme at the college of Health Sciences and deliver the bulk of medical care. These are very competent, though under acknowledged within the healthcare system. The Rose Project along with a number of national and international organisations looking at ways to address this situation
Sept 9th 2009
A number of Irish donors including Denis O Brien visited the new hospital. They also visited the HIV clinic which is beside the new hospital. This clinic was funded by the Rose Project in 2006.The focus of care at the clinic is on Prevention of Mother to Child HIV transmission during pregnancy. Since the clinic opened 6,000 people have been placed on AIDS This clinic will work closely with the new maternity hospital in the area of mother to child HIV transmission
Sept 10th 2009
The meeting with the District medical Officer was focused on the need for the District to rise to the challenges the new hospital is presenting. This is very difficult due to the shortage of personnel. In a hugely under resoursed healthcare system, a new hospital is bound to present many difficulties, however Dr Ndovie is one of the most enthusiastic people I have worked with and so we are fortunate. In the afternoon I visited the ministry of health and spoke with the chief district nursing officer who assured me that midwives finishing their training in both September and December will be joining the existing midwives at the new hospital. A total of 8 midwives will be allocated to the hospital but we need 40. To address the shortage the Rose Project is funding the sponsorship of additional nurses to train in midwifery at the university of Malawi. This programme will commence in December and will bring an additional 16 midwives to the force. Hopefully within the next two years the administration of the hospital will in a position to have a three shift rota in place, each shift for 8 hours. Presently there are only enough nurses to work a two shift rota, this leads to total exhaustion among the staff and inevitable mistakes.
10th September 2009
Today, we organised a Chinese meal for all the senior nursing staff and it went off very well. Due to the staff shortages, we had the meal in the library next to the hospital rather in the Chinese restaurant. It went very well and it was agreed by all to have been a good team building exercise .
11th Sept 2009
I visited the visited the College of Nursing.
The Rose Project is working with the department of nursing (Kamuzu College of Nursing) at the University of Malawi, on a midwife sponsorship programme. We will fund extra midwives to be trained and in return the midwives will commit two years to the maternity hospital. This sponsorship programme will commence at the university in December 09 and the first group of midwives will join the staff at the maternity hospital, in December 2010
Sept 12th 2009
This morning I visited the new Wellness Centre which is complete and the staff are fully installed. This is a new healthcare centre which the Rose Project has funded; it will be operated by The Malawian Association of Nurses and Midwives with additional funding from the Norwegian Nurses Association. Healthcare workers in Malawi are severely overstretched and require support at many levels. The HIV pandemic has seriously overstretched an already challenged healthcare service. Many of the nurses and midwives work 16 hour shifts due to the shortage of personnel. In addition many healthcare workers have become infected through injuries in the work place such as needle stick.
In addition to providing holistic healthcare to the healthcare workers, this centre will also provide care to their families. The concept of a Wellness Centre is the brain child of the Swaziland Nurses Association where it has been in operation for five years and has proven to be most successful. Lesotho and Zambia followed suit and both these countries are experiencing a positive impact on the health force.
Sept 13th 2009
Finally this morning I finalised plans for the opening of the maternity hospital with Rachel our representative in Malawi, and ensured that all the invites had been delivered.
Mary
