IN LILONGWE

We arrived in Lilongwe on May 21.  The Adventist Health Centre Lilongwe here has been a reputable place for primary care, dental care and optometry in this, the capital city of Malawi.  But now we're trying to upgrade and add surgical services, as well as Ob/Gyn services.  Dr. Lolita Largosa, an Ob/Gyn from the Philippines, is due to arrive (with her husband) in a couple months.

The thought was that we could remodel the pharmacy store room into an operating room.  That was the original intent in the design of the building.  But the way things are now, it would be difficult to make that into a reputable operating room with good sterile precautions.  Not to mention there is a paucity of storage space and it would be difficult to find a good place to put the pharmacy store.  So it seems best to try to build a reputable surgical suite as an extension onto the current facility.  We have some plans on how that could happen, but little money.  So we are in fundraising mode.

Adventist Health Centre Lilongwe

The photo below shows where we would like to build the surgery extension.

Meanwhile, the container with our household goods has arrived, and with it some hospital equipment and supplies.  This means that I can now set up to do upper and lower endoscopy.  Should be up and running within the next week or two.  For actual surgical procedures requiring anesthesia and sterile set-up, I go to the MASM (Medial Aid Society of Malawi) Hospital which is a about a ten minute drive from AHCL.  It is not ideal, but we are working with it for now.

Here is a drawing of the surgical suite we would like to add onto the Health Centre.

More on Malawi, and Lilongwe in particular, another day.