Low-cost loan gives patients K70m smile

Dr Chilungamo Chingwanda i s Malawi’s only chemical pathologist, ‘a physician of physicians’.

In his laboratory, he hops from one machine to another, monitoring hormones, blood, urine and other body fluids to detect life-threatening changes.

From body chemistry, the doctor can tell and treat several conditions that cause paralysis injuries and death. They include high cholesterol that chokes blood flow, hormonal imbalances that fuel infertility and vitamin deficiency that causes fatigue and depression.

Welcome to Alidziwa Clinic at the foot of Sanjika Hill in Blantyre City where Chilungamo treats conditions once referred to India and South Africa.

“Our specialised clinic helps 40 patients a day. Many come with metabolic disorders such as diabetes which disrupt vital body functions. We also see endocrine conditions, including improper functioning of the glands that secrete hormones,” he says.

He has little time to rest.

The patients include survivors of crippling strokes and failure of vital organs such as the liver, pancreas and kidneys.

The doctor opened the clinic in 2021 amid a lengthening list of Malawians waiting for specialist treatment abroad.

During his stint in South Africa, he constantly treated Malawian patients.

“The clinic was partly motivated by his brother’s tragic death while waiting to see a doctor at one of the city’s elite hospitals, the doctor frequently uses the lab for chemical tests that require expensive machines. You cannot find any below K50 million,” says his wife Charlotte, the clinic’s head of finance and administration.

T hey borrowed K70 million from the Financial Inclusion and Entrepreneurship Scaling (Fines) Project through the NBM Development Bank to buy a machine for analysing body fluids.

The five-year government project implemented by the Reserve Bank of Malawi, with support from the World Bank, seeks to boost access to financing for emerging and promising business enterprises.

Charlotte states: “The Fines loan has a low interest, almost a third of commercial banks’. This has transformed our clinic. We longer refer patients and tests to other clinics, including in India and South Africa.

“The machine analyses more samples quickly, meaning our clients no longer wait two weeks for the results. They know their status and start treatment the same day.”

The clinic was spending K10 million monthly sending patients and samples abroad, says Charlotte.

“Our machine saves scarce forex the nation requires to import essential commodities such as medicine, fuel and fertiliser,” she says.

The CL900i scanner also detects disorders when a large gland in the neck secretes too little or too much thyroid hormone which regulates body growth, heart rate, mood, energy levels, bone health and pregnancy.

It has also proved vital for patients at risk of taking the wrong medication, overdosing themselves or suspecting others of bewitching them because they feel sickly but a doctor can detect any illness.

“When we run the tests, the machine can tell what is wrong with the blood or hormones. When a man or a woman cannot have children, the machine will show which hormone is causing infertility,” she says.

A patient who travelled about 570 kilometres from Mzuzu says Alidziwa has become a trusted clinic.

He s t a t e s : “They diagnosed and treated my condition which many hospitals failed to detect for years.

“We can make quality healthcare accessible and affordable if we invest in Malawians with the necessary skills and business ideas.”

Some medical insurance companies require patients with endocrine disorders to be certified by Dr Chilungamo Chingwanda’s laboratories before going abroad.

The lab staff of five includes two specifically employed to run the new machine.

“This is good business because the machine is helping save lives while paying back what we borrowed from NBM under Fines,” says Charlotte.

Fi n e s programme manager Ralph Tseka says just about three percent of the borrowers are struggling to repay the loan.

“This is below the five-percent threshold of nonperforming loan, he says.

The project, partly conceived to cushion the economy from Covid-19 disruptions winds up next year.

NBM Development Bank Limited general manager Bernard Masi says: We invested in Alidziwa Clinic because it is the first of its kind in Malawi offering specialised metabolic and endocrine services.

“We believe in having an impact on people’s lives, communities and the country through our sustainable financing models that create opportunities for SMEs to flourish.”

AYOBE

Ralph Mawera