Dzaleka Health Centre gets K78m medical supplies donation

A local Christian organization, There Is Hope (TIH), has donated K78 million worth of medical supplies and drugs to Dzaleka Health Centre in Dowa.

The donation is certainly a huge relief to the facility, which, just like other public health facilities in Malawi, is facing acute shortage of drugs and medical supplies because of the impact of Covid-19 pandemic.

TIH Programme Manager Doreen Fatch disclosed that her organization sourced the donated items from a Canadian non-governmental organization – Health Partners International of Canada (HPIC).

Apparently, HPIC was one of the international organizations that responded positively to the appeal President Lazarus Chakwera made to the international community to assist Malawi with financial and material support in its national efforts to combat Covid-19.

When TIH handed over the essential drugs and medical items to the Malawi Government, Dzaleka Health Centre was the only public health facility operating a Covid-19 Isolation Centre in Dowa.

To date, the Canadian NGO has made a cumulative donation of K194 million worth of drugs and medical supplies to the Malawi Government through the Ministries of Health and Homeland Security.

According to Fatch, the first donation came in 2020 and was valued at K44 million, followed by another donation in 2021 valued at K72 million and this year’s K78 million.

“TIH is satisfied with the impact the donated drugs and medical supplies is making on the lives of the people we are serving at Dzaleka Refugee Camp and the surrounding communities,” she said.

She reiterated her organization’s commitment to complementing the efforts by the Malawi Government in its struggle against the pandemic.

In her remarks, Senior Administrative and Operations Manager at the Ministry of Homeland Security (Department of Refugees), Hilda Kausiwa, described the donation as timely, saying it will go a long way in restocking Dzaleka Health Centre with essential drugs and medical supplies.

On his part, Clinical Officer in-Charge for Dzaleka Health Centre, Henry Lali, reiterated that Covid-19 has exerted pressure on the facility, which is catering for a population of 80, 000 people from the refugee camp, surrounding communities and other catchment areas.

Lali said donated medicines will therefore ease the pressure the facility is currently facing to respond to patients of various communicable ailments, including malaria and cough.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Protection Officer, Miiro Rehema, commended TIH for sourcing the support.

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