Chikwawa hospital gets oxygen plant
Partners in Health (PIH) with financial support from Unitaid on Thursday handed over an oxygen gas plant to Chikwawa District Hospital.
The plant will also serve Nsanje District Hospital and the handover came as a relief to the two facilities as they previously either purchased oxygen from Blantyre or referred patients in need of oxygen to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) in Blantyre, according to the hospital’s authorities.
Speaking during the handover, Deputy Minister of Health Halima Daud said blood and oxygen supplies are medicines on “their own right and have no alternatives”, hence, the plant was a necessity in health service delivery.
She said: “For this reason, we must always ensure that hospitals are well stocked to save lives.
“We all remember that during Covid-19 pandemic, many lives were lost for lack of oxygen. That painful period cannot be repeated.”
According to her, the government has plans to ensure that every district hospital has readily available medical oxygen.
Chikwawa District Hospital now joins Mzuzu Central Hospital, Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe and QECH in Blantyre as public hospitals with gas plants.
The new oxygen plant in Chikwawa has the capability of filling 20 oxygen gas cylinders per day with the capacity of 50 litres each, which Daud said could also be supplied to other health centres in Chikwawa and Nsanje districts.
PIH Malawi executive director Basimenye Nhlema said the plant was installed under the Building Reliable Integrated and Next Generation Oxygen Services (Bring O2) grant.
She said PIH in collaboration with the Ministry of Health started the project after observing a gap in access to medical oxygen supplies in health facilities.
Currently, the organisation is installing piped oxygen systems in Neno, Balaka, Mwanza, Nsanje and Chikwawa districts for efficient, reliable and cost effective supply of oxygen to patients.
