Malawi is relying on a single oral and maxillofacial surgeon to treat hundreds of patients suffering from facial deformities, cancers and other complex conditions, exposing a critical gap in the country’s specialist healthcare system.
The shortage has come into sharp focus at Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) in Lilongwe where a visiting team of eight volunteer surgeons from the United Kingdom (UK) has joined Malawi’s only oral and maxillofacial surgeon James Mchenga to conduct free surgeries for about 50 patients over two weeks.
Patients selected from districts and central hospitals across the country were identified by The Patriots Malawi for the surgical camp.
However, Mchenga said that even with the international intervention, demand for specialised care far exceeds available capacity.
“I have about 250 patients on my waiting list, yet I only manage to operate four or five times a month. It is impossible to help everyone under these conditions,” he said.
According to Mchenga, he is allocated one theatre day a week, which is often disrupted by emergency cases, further limiting access to surgery.
“I operate on roughly three or four patients per month. At that rate, you cannot even clear 200 patients in a year,” he said.
He attributed the crisis partly to limited investment in specialist training and infrastructure, noting that Malawi only introduced a dentistry programme in 2019.
“The College of Medicine opened in 1992, but dentistry training only began in 2019 because of resource constraints. That delay created a gap in specialised personnel,” said Mchenga.
Leader of the UK volunteer team, oral and maxillofacial surgeon Tania Mkungula, said she organised the mission after learning that Malawi had only one specialist in the field.
“Since I am also a specialist, I mobilised my colleagues to come and provide free treatment to patients who would otherwise struggle to access this care,” she said.
Parliament’s Health and Sanitation Committee chairperson Anthony Masamba, in an interview yesterday, described the situation as worrying, saying lawmakers would engage authorities on improving specialist training, equipment and infrastructure.
