Dr. Patel and Prof. Mwapasa
* We the medical doctors of Malawi are proud of you and thank you for serving the country with your expertise—Society of Medical Doctors
By Duncan Mlanjira
From a large number of nominees and votes received, Society of Medical Doctors (SMD) has identified 10 best medical practitioners who have been honoured with the Society’s 2023 awards.
Dr. Adamson Muula
Dr. Parth Patel, whose full scale healthcare facility, Atlas Medical Center offers advanced and innovative healthcare technology, has been voted as the Best Health Care Entrepreneur, while renowned Adamson Muula has been awarded with Best Public Health Physician.
Other awardees are Prof. Victor Mwapasa voted as Best Research Mentor, Dr. Chifundo Kajombo as Best Surgeon; Dr. Patrick Nachipo as Best Internal Medicine Specialist; Dr. Samuel Meja as Best Obstetrician & Gynaecologist and Dr. Mercy Kumwenda as Best Paedatrician; Dr. Glory Sefu as Best Resident Doctor; Dr. Peter Dias as Best Intern Doctor and Dr. Chimota Phiri as Best Clinical Mentor.
In announcing the news, SMD president, Dr. Victor Mithi said they received an unexpected large number of votes for all the 10 categories and the ones chosen were recognised for the “remarkable efforts and milestones they achieved”.
“We, the medical doctors of Malawi, are proud of you and thank you for serving the country with your expertise,” Dr. Mithi said.
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Located along Mandala Road, just some 200m from the junction at Red Cross premises — and just after Al Taqwa Mosque at Ginnery Corner — Dr. Patel’s Atlas Medical Center offers affordable and equitable healthcare services that include general and specialist medical clinics.
The specialist clinics include pediatrics, obstetrics & gynecology, hypertension, diabetes, nephrology (kidney) and general surgery as well as equipped to treat infectious diseases, stroke, thyroid — including heart, lungs and gastro care.
Also on board are physiotherapy services, a walk in prescription-based pharmacy services and it has a diagnostic laboratory for detection of electrocardiogram (ECG), hematology & biochemistry, coagulation & inflammation markers, hormones and fertility, cardia arrests amongst many other services.
The state-of-the-art diagnostic laboratory is capable of conducting 100 different types of tests.
Dr. Patel is also trustee for Blantyre-based non profit organization, Our Aim Foundation, that provides life-saving assistance to developing communities which enables them to lead a better life.
In July, Our Aim Foundation donated medical equipment worth over US$500,000 to Queen Elizabeth Centra Hospital (Queens), Blantyre District Health Office (DHO) and Kachere Rehabilitation Centre (MAPD).
The items included wheelchairs, syringes, dialysis fluids, crutches among others and when presenting the equipment, Dr. Patel said the organization decided to support in order to minimize the current status on challenges that the facilities have been going through which needs a serious assistance.
He said as an organization they are always concerned with how the operations in most hospitals are affected due lack of enough and proper medical items which also contribute to poor health services.
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Dr. Adamson Muula, medical doctor and public health practitioner at Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS) who has published over 140 articles in peerreviewed journals with main interests in communicable diseases health systems and medical education.
He is Board Certified Public Health Practitioner by the American National Board of Public Health Examiners and is also the founder member of the Forum for African Medical Editors (FAME).
He has served as associate editor of the Malawi Medical Journal and was elected to the Board of the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME).
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Prof. Victor Mwapasa is a public health expert and research scientist who currently leads the delivery of courses in HIV, research methodology, public health & implementation science and supervises undergraduate and postgraduate students.
His research focuses on the epidemiology of malaria and HIV, including testing the efficacy and effectiveness of novel diagnostic tests and interventions and evaluating public health implementation strategies for these diseases and associated co-morbidities.
He has expertise in health research capacity development in resource-limited settings and currently leads research capacity development initiatives funded by the National Institutes of Health (USA) and Wellcome Trust (UK).
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