* Health Minister Kandodo Chiponda describes volunteers as ‘Angels of God on earth’
* As Doctors Without Borders (MSF) setting up additional 40-bed ward for COVID-19 patients
By Duncan Mlanjira
The Feed the Frontline Healthcare Workers Fund, which Della and her husband Aj Kulemeka initiated over a week ago, is attracting many sponsors in their noble cause to help in the fight against COVID-19 in a different style.
The couple keeps updating wellwishers on the special Facebook page that has been created and prompted by the swift response from members of the public, Health Minister Kandodo Chiponda described the volunteers as ‘Angels of God on earth’.
Various volunteers are distributing meals to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (Queens) and have been joined by Lands Deputy Minister Abida Mia, who donated a Brahman bull as well as 300Kgs of rice.
Mia, Member of Parliament for Chikwawa Nkombedzi, donated the bull through S&A Cold Storage in her personal capacity.
Fella and Aj initiated the feeding programme taking cognizance that the frontline healthcare workers are always busy because of the large numbers of patients to look after.
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They rarely afford a break to dash for a meal outside hospital campus.
The couple is asking the public willing to assist to contact them — Della on the numbers: 0991 289 123/0885 289 123 (email: dellakulemeka@gmail.com).
And through Aj Andrew on: 0999 204 459/0881 847 503 (email: andykulemeka@gmail.com). They are located in New Naperi, Naperi Road, next to Joy Radio in Blantyre.
The bull from Abida Mia
A single meal is costing about K1,000 and the food is prepared by private caterers as one way of helping their small and medium entrepreneurship.
Meanwhile, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), in responce to a call by the health authorities in Blantyre, has launched an emergency intervention to tackle the exponential increase in the number of severe patients.
In a report published by allAfrica.com, MSF says addition to providing manpower, oxygen and technical support to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital’s wards, they are setting up an additional ward of 40 beds dedicated to COVID-19 patients.
The report says the ward will be fully equipped and staffed by MSF, in response to a call for help from the hospital Director and the District Health Officer.
The report also quotes MSF as saying “while the number of patients coming to the hospital is already overwhelming, there are indications that quite a few of the severe cases do not even reach the hospital and many people are probably dying at home”.
“Our next objective, therefore, is to improve the early referral of severe patients, in order to maximise their chances of survival.
“But to contain the number of infections and deaths caused by this new wave of the disease, Malawi urgently needs access to vaccination – which unfortunately is unlikely to happen before April 2021, and even then, only for a portion of its population.
“By that time, the epidemic might have already peaked and killed many who could have been protected by vaccination.”
After being relatively spared by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Malawi is being swept by a new, fast-spreading wave of the disease that is quickly overwhelming the health care system.
In the first few weeks of January, the number of positive cases has doubled every four to five days, and while the local capacity is already saturated, access to vaccines is likely a few months away.
Fabrice Weissman, who is member of the MSF COVID-19 response team in Malawi, is quoted as saying the epidemic has been developing at a rapid pace since mid-December.
“At that time, the majority of new cases was found among Malawian workers returning from South Africa, while today almost all the new cases are the result of local transmission.
“There is a very high probability that the COVID-19 variant 500Y.V2 identified in South Africa is responsible for this second wave. According to current scientific knowledge, this variant is 50% more transmissible than the original strain, leading to a quick surge in the number of people needing hospitalisation.
“This number has doubled every week since the beginning of January. If the epidemic in the country follows the same pattern as in South Africa (where the peak of the second wave was reached after nine weeks), we can expect the number of severe patients in need of hospital care to increase unabated up to mid-February.
“The hotspots of the outbreak are the two main cities in the country, Lilongwe in the centre and Blantyre in the south, which account for a population of around two million people.”
Friday’s situation report
In Blantyre, Médecins Sans Frontières runs an oncological programme at Queens, a facility where COVID-19 patients are also being hospitalised.
MSF observes that the number of severe COVID-19 patients hospitalised at Queens has increased from 12 to 107 between January 1 and 21, “exceeding the hospital’s maximum capacity for COVID-19 patients, which is currently 80 patients”.
“This puts a great stress on the facility, in particular with regard to human resources, medical equipment and consumables and oxygen supplies – in all three areas, the hospital Director has asked for emergency support, which we have begun to provide.
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“The most critical priority now is to protect the frontline staff, if only to keep the workforce operational. More than 10 members of the MSF team have been diagnosed as positive in the past 10 days — fortunately none of them developed severe symptoms so far.
“This is putting a huge strain on our operational capacity. Our second objective is to reduce mortality among the patients coming to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, which is the only public facility providing care for severe patients in Blantyre, where more than one third of the cases are reported.
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“The hospital is doing a great job in dire circumstances. We hired 50 extra health workers to reinforce their team and are helping to manage oxygen supplies.
“Oxygen is the lifeline in the management of patients, but the demand far exceeds the national production capacity and has to be met by imported cylinders and concentrators, which are in short supply.”
As these interventions are taking place, patriots in most districts have initiated their own fundraising campaigns in the fight against the deadly pandemic to district hospitals to procure essential medical supplies.
Private citizen response
In Chiradzulu, with their contributions in total at over K2.5 million have opened an account with National Bank, Top Mandala Branch — number 1007179169 under name Chiradzulu Covid 19 and also through Airtel Money # 0999895225 and Mpamba # 0885528248.
In Balaka, medical equipment need include infrared thermometers; pulse oxymeter; oxygen cylinder and oxygen itself and concentrators
They are contributing through Mpamba # 0888335409; Airtel # 0999397042; Mo626 # 1001244627 and FDH # 1230000080787
Dedza patriots using National Bank of Malawi account number 1000096225 or through Airtel Money 0999392522.
Those in diaspora are also contributing through Emma Mabasa’s Paypal; esmabasa@gmail.com or Cashapp: $esmabasa.
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