UNC project donates K80m Covid-19 equipment
University of North Carolina (UNC) Project yesterday donated coronavirus (Covid-19) equipment to Bwaila and Kamuzu Central hospitals in Lilongwe.
The equipment included three boxes of intensive care unit (ICU) medical kit, 10 oxygen concentrator system, 10 non-contacts infrared thermometers, six stethoscope dual head, three fingertip pulse oximeter, 800 medical face shields, 4 000 surgical face masks, 500 N95 respirators, 4 500 pairs of disposable gloves, 60 safety goggles and 900 lignocaine vials.
The ICU kit includes doxycycline, piptaz injection, vancomycin injection, imepenum injection, ceftriaxone injection, azithromycin tablets and injection, augmentin tabs, norepinephrine, precede-dexmed-sodium chloride and lidocaine injection.
The equipment was donated to UNC Project by Direct Relief International from the United States of America.
UNC Project country director Innocent Mofolo said they decided to help after seeing how hospitals are overwhelmed by Covid 19 pandemic in terms of response and safety.
He said: “As you know the numbers of cases are increasing every day and this has brought about challenges in hospitals. The need is unlimited and all facilities in the country have a lot of constraints and the systems are struggling. We liaised with our partners Direct Relief Internal based in the US and they responded with the assistance we are donating today. We need to be our brothers’ keepers in a situation like this and help each other.”
Lilongwe district director of health services Dr.Alinafe Mbewe Tambala described the donation as timely considering the limited resources the facility is facing.
“The situation is dire and we are overwhelmed and we value any assistance that can be contributed towards the fight against this pandemic. With Covid 19 there is need to stabilise the patients before they can be referred to KCH. The oxygen concentrators, the respiratory and ICU equipment will help us set up a room where we can stabilise the patients. In this way we will be able to save many lives,” she said.
Tambala added that the personal protective equipment is vital to protecting service providers who most times work in risky conditions.
