Sunday, May 29, 2022
  • About Us
  • ImagiNATION
  • Adverts
  • Rate Card
  • Contact Us
The Nation Online
Advertisement
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Life & Style
    • Every Woman
      • Soul
      • Family
    • Religion
    • Feature
  • Society
  • Columns
  • Sports
  • Chichewa
  • Enation
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Life & Style
    • Every Woman
      • Soul
      • Family
    • Religion
    • Feature
  • Society
  • Columns
  • Sports
  • Chichewa
  • Enation
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result
Home Feature Health

Supporting pneumonia treatment

by Mercy Malikwa
24/11/2020
in Health
4 min read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on WhatsAppShare on LinkedinLinkedinShare via Email

Physician Dingase Dula recalls the days when treating pneumonia at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) in Blantyre used to be a cumbersome job for healthcare workers.

This is because the hospital, whose pneumonia patients account for half of the 10 to 25 adult patients admitted daily from different conditions, did not have readily available oxygen supply.

The newly established high dependency unit

“Pneumonia can either be treated at home if the patient is not too sick or at the hospital if the patient is having difficulties breathing or they can’t swallow tablets and they need an injection,” says Dula.

The internal medicine registrar at QECH says the situation was usually getting complicated when the patients required admission and oxygen.

Says Dula: “So, for patients who needed oxygen, the hospital had to buy from an external supplier and put it in canisters which we were only using for a few hours before running out.

“On the day of delivery from the suppliers, we used to carry these huge canisters on a stretcher running across the corridors while patients who were supposed to be on oxygen were gasping for air.”

Luckily, in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, one of QECH-partner institutions Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Trust (MLW) constructed an oxygen plant which generates a million litres of oxygen per day to more than 100 beds at the hospital.

What used to be the ward before refurbishments

Says Dula: “The plant, which supplies oxygen straight to the emergency department and in our high-dependency unit through a piped system, has made a tremendous difference in how we manage pneumonia patients.

“Sometimes we get various problems in the hospital such as stocking out of drugs unexpectedly, but at least oxygen is one of the things that we don’t have to worry about anymore.”

Besides the oxygen plant, MLW also established a high dependency unit (HDU) at QECH to provide support to pneumonia patients and other “sickest patients” who frequently require oxygen and expert management.

MLW senior clinical lecturer in critical care medicine Ben Morton says the HDU is instrumental in both providing direct patient care and for training clinicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals in the management of severe unstable conditions like pneumonia.

The unit, situated in Ward 3A, also provides specialist critical care nurse care at an increased ratio of nurses per patient compared to normal wards.

Morton says: “The unit provides uninterrupted oxygen supplies coupled with intensive vital signs monitoring to ensure that patients are responding to treatment or, if patients’ conditions deteriorate, that this can be picked up early and corrective measures put in place.

“For a very sick and unstable patient this type of care is vital to ensure that they do not further deteriorate before treatments like antibiotics and fluid therapy have had sufficient time to work.”

Dula is happy that QECH has made progress in the treatment and management of pneumonia and other acute respiratory infections.

However, the medical doctor empathises with district hospitals and central hospitals which do not have these facilities to treat and manage the disease.

Ministry of Health spokesperson Joshua Malango says pneumonia and acute respiratory infections are the leading cause of deaths in under-five children in the country.

He says the infections also cause a lot of sickness in adults, especially those with underlying medical conditions that cause low immunity.

Nationwide, Malango says challenges in the management of pneumonia and acute respiratory infections are common when there are severe cases of pneumonia requiring oxygen and specialised care such as intensive care units.

“Equipment to support the patient may not be there in all facilities and in some cases, we need energy to power the equipment,” he says.

However, Malango says there are several initiatives that the government is undertaking to address the challenges. These include routine vaccines given to children.

“Apart from the oxygen plants put in coordination with our partners at KCH [Kamuzu Central Hospital] and QECH to ensure good supply of the commodity, the new Phalombe Hospital and all new hospitals will be having dedicated oxygen plants,” he says.

Previous Post

Covid-19 ups rural food prices—survey

Next Post

Chakwera wants self-reliant Malawi

Related Posts

Health

What keeps Covid jabs cool?

May 25, 2022
Health

Displaced children face malnutrition

May 24, 2022
A woman gets her Covid-19 jab during the Ministry of Health door-to-door campaign
Health

Border community adopts Covid jab

May 19, 2022
Next Post

Chakwera wants self-reliant Malawi

Opinions and Columns

Off the Shelf

Poor timing of Aggreko decommissioning now hurting

May 28, 2022
My Diary

Corruption as an elephant

May 28, 2022
Business Unpacked

Tame egos, take risks to grow economy

May 26, 2022
People’s Tribunal

What was that press briefing all about?

May 22, 2022

Trending Stories

  • People travel on the first part of the East Bank road from Thabwa

    K14bn road fund down the drain

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • ACB sleeps on Bingu’s wealth investigation

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Acb explains Sattar miss

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • RBM justifies devaluation stance

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Bullets , Silver Strikers renew rivarly

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Malawi-Music.com Top10

  • Values
  • Our Philosophy
  • Editorial policy
  • Advertising Policy
  • Code of Conduct
  • Plagiarism disclaimer
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use

© 2022 Nation Publications Limited. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Life & Style
    • Every Woman
      • Soul
      • Family
    • Religion
    • Feature
  • Society
  • Columns
  • Sports
  • Chichewa
  • Enation

© 2020 Nation Publications Limited. All Rights Reserved.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.