Malawi secures $8m loan for hospital

The Governing Board of the Opec Fund for International Development (OfID) has approved $8 million (about K240 million) as a supplementary loan for the construction Nkhata Bay District Hospital.

The funds will be used to complete construction of and provide medical equipment and furniture for a hospital that will serve over 400 000 people.

In a recent statement, OfID said at its meeting in its 140th Session, the board approved 12 loans and grants totalling over $201 million to boost socio-economic development in 29 partner countries.

The bulk of the funding, the statement said, will co-finance projects aimed at combating energy poverty, followed by loans to help bolster the agriculture, education, health and transportation sectors of the recipient countries, reads the statement.

The construction of the Nkhata Bay District Hospital has moved at a snail’s pace. The previous government of Bingu wa Mutharika attributed the delay to corruption by some civil servants. 

Recently, Minister of Lands and Housing Henry Phoya expressed fear that the devaluation of the kwacha would lead to the rise in the cost of building the new hospital which is still in its first phase of construction.

Government devalued the kwacha by 10 percent and later by 49 percent, a development that has seen the cost of services steadily skyrocketing.

Phoya, however, expressed satisfaction with progress of construction work on the facility which delayed due to what contractors Plem Construction and Building Contractor said was lack of funding.

The present district hospital, a major referral facility for health centres around the mainland district and neighbouring Likoma and Chizumulu Islands, has been overwhelmed by increases in the population of its catchment areas.