MCH’s blocked sewerage system renovated

Plan Malawi has come to the rescue of Mzuzu Central Hospital (MCH) by renovating a sewerage system that blocked six years ago. Before the renovation, the sewage was not properly drained and treated, a development that posed health hazards to the community.

The renovation cost K15 million ($30 000) and was undertaken under Plan’s Peri-Urban Sanitation and Hygiene Project. The sewerage is a modern facility comprising four waste stabilisation ponds. The sewage from the hospital and the surrounding community is treated in the ponds for reuse. MCH director Rose Nyirenda said the sewerage was not functional due to lack of sewer lines leading to the ponds. She said: “Of course, government supported us to have the sewer lines. But [later on] we were failing to drain sewage from the hospital and staff houses because there were blockages all along the system. Because the hospital is supposed to take care of patients, we didn’t have the capacity to renovate them. “We contacted the city council and that is how they sourced funds from Plan.”  Nyirenda said the ponds have the capacity to treat sewage from a larger community outside the hospital. Plan’s water, sanitation and hygiene project manager Thoko Kaitane said the sewerage is a state-of-the-art system whose objective is to recycle waste. “Treated water from the ponds will be channelled to the nearest water streams and the treated waste can be put to other uses,” he said.