VP’s wife cheers the sick, new moms at Bwaila Hospital

Malawi Vice President’s wife, Mary Chilima, on Tuesday emphasized the need for Malawians to have a giving heart.

Chilima said it was everyone’s responsibility to make sure that the less privileged in society and the sick were being taken care of by giving them donations.

She was speaking at the Bwaila Hospital in Lilongwe where she went to cheer up the sick and also donated assorted items.

During her tour of the hospital including its kangaroo and nursery wards, Chilima donated to patients soap, biscuits, Sobo and sugar, among other items.

She said: “As you know this is Christmas time, we thought of celebrating it with the sick, hence the donation. We chose Bwaila mainly to cheer up the mothers as the hospital covers a wide area with a radius of about 100 kilometers and the people it serves are less privileged.

“This donation will go a long way in assisting the mothers. We will also make a donation of bandages to the Kamuzu Central Hospital, especially to the burns unit.”

Also speaking after touring the facility, District Health Officer for Lilongwe, Mwawi Mwale, thanked Chilima for the donation, saying it was timely.

“As a hospital, we are very grateful for the donation. Looking at the timing, it’s around Christmas and most mothers would like to be at home but they are at the hospital and it’s always nice to see someone coming to cheer them up.

“There are many hospitals that she could have visited, but it’s a pleasure and honour to see that she chose Bwaila to visit,” Mwale said.

Bwaila maternity wing is supposed to accommodate 250 patients, but due to high demand, it has up to 400.

The maternity registers up to 50 births per day, 1,400 to 1,600 per month, and 16,000 to 18, 000 per year.