A gynaecologist at Mzuzu Central Hospital (MCH) says lack of necessary medical equipment is obstructing the delivery of quality services at the facility’s maternity ward.
Peter Jeke said this on Friday when Old Mutual Malawi donated scrubs, gumboots as well as baby and adult diapers worth K1 million to the hospital’s maternity ward. The doctor said the donation will make a difference considering the magnitude of challenges the ward has been going through.
Jeke said the ward, which handles the highest number of patients at the hospital, sometimes operates without antibiotics which are essential for treating mothers who have just given birth.
He said: “The ward is always full. As I am speaking now, the [maternity] ward is treating about 75 patients, while other wards have no more than 30 patients. So it is really a challenge because resources are always on high demand in this ward.”
Old Mutual Malawi general manager Edith Jiya said as the country strives to achieve zero maternal deaths, there is need for all stakeholders to join hands in improving service delivery at the ward.
She said: “The experience of child birth is exciting but can be challenging and dangerous, especially for medical personnel, when there are inadequate materials to assist women going through such life- threatening moments.
“We can sing a song of safe-motherhood, but if we sit down and relax without doing anything towards it, we will not achieve anything.”
MCH, which was opened in 2000, is a referral health facility for patients from all six districts in the Northern Region.
