Reports

Annual report 2020
We, poor people are less vulnerable to COVID
Sr. Mercy
Two thousand and twenty. The year that COVID19 overwhelmed the whole world. In Malawi, for many reasons, the effects of the pandemic, mortality much lower, less social disruption were quite different from the rich West.
In February2020 our Malawi.kom urologist visited Nkhoma mission hospital. Part of the urological instruments were transferred to this hospital. The local urologic counterpart probably will disappear. Nkhoma is in the process of setting up a PAACS surgery course.
Subsequently the urological training in Kamuzu Central Hospital, Lilongwe was visited for two weeks. Educator urologist Charles Mabedi is enthusiastically working on the design of the course. A large quantity of very useful urological instruments was "officially" handed over to him. Malawi.kom will concentrate on this important training. The visits planned in April to promote the use of local anesthetics in surgical procedures had to be cancelled. Container transport by sea could however continue, so that in 2020 the hospital clothing donated in large quantities by the Dutch hospital combination Zuyderland and the many laptops equipped with surgical instruction programs without problems could find their way to the Malawian hospitals and the Clinical Officers.
When, summer �20 a new wave of infections started in the Netherlands, the situation in Malawi was under control to such an extent that in the first weeks of October the instruction visits on local anesthesia in surgery and trauma care to eight Malawian hospitals could be effected. A start was made with the distribution of laptops to eligible Clinical Officers.
In consultation with the leadership of the Holy Family Hospital Phalombe where in November 2019 our teammate Sjon tragically lost his life, partly due to the lack of resuscitation facilities in the hospital, a plan was made to expand the hospital with a High Dependency Unit in his memory.
The support of Ruthie Markus / AMECA proved to be crucial in this effort.

Jan Petit, December 2021