Malawi Setting Up Field Hospitals to Cope with Virus Surge
"Malawi urgently needs access to vaccination"
BLANTRYE, MALAWI - Malawi faces a resurgence of COVID-19 that is
overwhelming the southern African country where a presidential residence
and a national stadium have been turned into field hospitals in efforts
to save lives.
President Lazarus Chakwera, just six months in office, lost two Cabinet
ministers to COVID-19 in January amid a surge that led him to declare a
state of national disaster in all of Malawi's 28 districts.
Chakwera declared three days of national mourning over the deaths of the
ministers of transport and local government, which shocked the nation
and inspired a raft of new measures aimed at stemming the spread of the
virus in a country with a poor health system. A more contagious strain
of the coronavirus first reported in South Africa has since been
confirmed in Malawi.
"Our medical facilities are terribly understaffed, and our medical
personnel are outnumbered," Chakwera said in a recent address.
Malawi has seen its number of confirmed cases of the disease go above
23,000, including a total of 702 deaths as of Monday, according to Dr.
John Phuka, co-chair of the presidential task force on COVID-19.
The numbers appear relatively small in a country of 18 million, but the
14,000 active cases are many times more than the number of established
hospital beds. Officials are setting up makeshift facilities to increase
the number of treatment units from 400 to at least 1,500, sometimes
erecting tents on the lawns of hospitals.
The presidential residence State House in the southern city of Zomba
soon will be turned into a 100-bed treatment facility, according to
officials.
A 300-bed field hospital at Bingu National Stadium has begun admitting
patients. Another 300-bed field hospital has been opened at a youth
center in Blantyre, the country's largest city. And a 200-bed facility
for emergency care has been set up in the northern city of Mzuzu.
The government also has recruited 1,128 medical professionals, just short of 1,380 that health authorities have said are needed.
The government of Chakwera — a retired pastor who was a relative
political newcomer when he was elected in June — has already spent more
than $38 million in tackling the pandemic. Last month he ordered the
finance minister to release another $22.6 million as soon as possible to
meet the demands of the crisis.
Among the measures imposed by Chakwera, who began broadcasting a
virus-related address to the nation every Sunday night following the
deaths of his ministers, is the closure of schools for at least 15 days
until Feb. 8. A nighttime curfew is being enforced and all gatherings
are restricted to no more than 50 people.
"The situation is quite desperate," Chakwera said in a recent address,
referring to the shortage of health infrastructure. "Although in my six
months in office we set up 400 national treatment units, the current
wave of infections has completely overwhelmed these facilities."
Malawi has secured enough doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to vaccinate
20% of its people, with the first consignment set to arrive at the end
of February, he said. Front-line workers, the elderly, and those with
underlying conditions will be prioritized, Chakwera told the nation,
appealing for outside help to combat the pandemic.
The international aid group Doctors Without Borders has also responded
to the crisis, opening a 40-bed COVID-19 ward entirely staffed and
managed by its employees. The group noted, however, that setting up more
hospital beds may not be enough.
"Malawi urgently needs access to vaccination – which unfortunately is
unlikely to happen before April 2021, and even then, only for a portion
of its people," the organization said in a statement. "By that time, the
pandemic might have already peaked, and killed many who could have been
protected by vaccination."
VOA
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