Rotary Club donates K110m surgical equipment

The Rotary Club of Lilongwe has donated surgical equipment worth over 60 000 (about K110 million) to Nkhoma Mission Hospital in Lilongwe to help the facility serve the community better.

Speaking during the donation on Saturday, the club president Rachel Silungwe said besides serving a vast community in Lilongwe and Dedza, Nkhoma also has a teaching hospital; hence, the need for more support to ease the pressure on both staff and the patients.

“This is also in line with the club’s theme for this year, which is ‘Creating hope in the world: We hope to do more’,” she said.

Silungwe said the donation was made with support from Rotary Club Rhein-Erft District 1810 of Germany.

Nkhoma surgical department head Jens Vaylann said the equipment, which includes an autoclave machine will make their work easier and faster.

He said: “For example, sterilisation of equipment which used to take two hours with the manually-operated machines will now reduce to five or 20 minutes in these new machines.

“With the sophisticated equipment, patients can now be discharged a day or two after an operation and not stay more than a week as previously.”

Nkhoma hospital director Salvador Delatorre also thanked the club for the donation and called on other well-wishers to support the hospital’s other needs.

Established in 1915, Nkhoma Mission Hospital is run by the CCAP Nkhoma Synod and has a catchment area of over 400 000 people.

Patients pay a small fee while some bills are covered by well-wishers who partner with the hospital to assist the less-privileged.