* First of its kind in the country’s public hospitals that will reduce the need to refer patients abroad for specialised scanning services
* It has the capacity to scan between 50 and 150 patients per day with conditions such as brain tumours and nerve-related complications
By Dan Kosondo, MANA
Minister of Health & Sanitation, Madalitso Baloyi has today commissioned a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) equipment at Queens Elizabeth Central Hospital that is expected to improve advanced diagnostic services as a referral facility.
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Baloyi said the MRI equipment is the first of its kind in public hospitals in Malawi and will reduce the need to refer patients abroad for specialised scanning services.
The MRI has the capacity to scan between 50 and 150 patients per day with conditions such as brain tumours and nerve-related complications, who previously required referral outside the country.
Baloyi appealed to staff at Queens Elizabeth Central Hospital to take good care of the equipment to ensure its durability and maximise its benefit to patients, while also generating revenue for government through service provision.
The equipment was procured with support from the Global Fund at a cost of MK1.8 billion, which diagnoses diseases affecting the brain, spinal cord, liver, and other organs.
The equipment, which has already served over 1,200 patients, is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to generate pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes inside the body, which is widely used in hospitals and clinics for medical diagnosis, staging and follow-up of diseases.
According to the Ministry of Health, the new development aligns with the government’s Health Sector Strategic Plan #3 and the MW2063 national vision — which aims at providing quality healthcare services.
Minister Baloyi highlighted that “delivering quality healthcare requires precision in diagnosis for precision in treatment, resulting in better outcomes and expressed gratitude to the Global Fund for the support from the development partners.
She also appreciated the Global Fund’s support in procuring medicines and health commodities, including anti-retroviral drugs, anti-malarial, and anti-TB medications.
Manager in the Global Fund Implementation Unit within the Ministry of Health, Doreen Sanje indicated that apart from this support, the Global Fund also assists with training health workers to enhance their professional skills and knowledge.
During the visit, the Minister also visited ward 3A and 3B to appreciate the progress of the renovation works currently underway with funding from Global Fund. Queens Hospital’s Deputy Director General, Dr William Peno said as a centre of excellency, they strive to provide quality of services despite some challenges being faced.
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Meanwhile, the government is rehabilitating and constructing high quality health centres across the country to ensure sustained and quality health service delivery and on Wednesday, Deputy Minister of Health & Sanitation, Charles Chilambula presided over the opening of a laboratory at Mpherembe Health Centre in Mzimba which was rehabilitated with support from the Global Fund.
Chilambula indicated that the facility is one of the 27 laboratories that the Ministry has rehabilitated and constructed nationwide to strengthen diagnostic services and the Deputy Minister highlighted that this is Government’s revised minimum standard of a modern community hospital laboratory.
He thanked the Global Fund for its continued support to the Ministry of Health, noting that the assistance goes beyond infrastructure development, saying: “We are thrilled that the support to renovate such a laboratory also includes equipment such as haematology machines, 80-litre autoclaves and microscopes, among others.
“This contribution will aid the national response to emerging infectious diseases, especially after the lessons we learned during the CoVID-19 pandemic,” said Chilambula adding that the laboratory will enhance the capacity of healthcare professionals to deliver improved services, in line with the principle of universal access to healthcare.
“Let me remind the healthcare workers to take good care of these facilities and the costly equipment for the sake of delivering reliable and quality health services for the benefit of the patients that we serve,” he said.
The renovation of the laboratory commenced on June 9, 2025 and was completed on November 30, 2025 at a cost of MK616 million.
Global Fund and Gavi Programme Implementation Unit deputy Manager, Rhoda Banda said the funding support is based on the needs of individual governments, adding that the Ministry of Health determines which health facilities benefit from specific initiatives.
Inkosi Mpherembe thanked government and the Global Fund for the development, saying people in his area previously had to travel about 70kms to Mzuzu to access laboratory services.
Later in the afternoon, Chilambula commissioned a medical-grade pharmaceutical incinerator constructed with support from Gavi and inspected a gas plant and an infectious disease centre under construction at Mzuzu Central Hospital.
Mzuzu Central Hospital’s Dr. Dorris Kayambo said the incinerator is a specialised high-temperature combustion system designed to safely destroy hazardous healthcare waste, including expired and unused medicines.—Reporting from Mzimba by McCarthy Mwalwimba, MANA; story edited by Maravi Express
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