NICO donates K5m towards training of registrar for Mercy James Cente at Queen’s Hospital
In order to enhance the number of experts on the team of medical professionals for Mercy James Centre for Paediatric Surgery and Intensive Care at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, NICO Group has donated MK5 million towards the training of its registrar.
NICO’s Group Head of Marketing & Communication, Lorraine Phiri said they were responding to the Centre’s plea for assistance to enhance the medical team’s skills to enable them to execute their work efficiently so that the children continue to receive the best care available.
Phiri said in making their appeal for assistance, the Centre’s management outlined that while several institutions and individuals —both local and international — are providing support to the special facility in various ways, it still has unmet needs.
“NICO, being an institution that aims to make a positive difference in the lives of Malawians from all walks of life heard this call and decided to respond to it,” she said.
“As a leading financial services institution, whose history dates back to 1971, NICO’s focus has always gone beyond ‘business as usual’ to looking at challenges in our community and doing what we can, where we can, to address these issues.
“We are engaged in improving the environment and livelihoods in our communities in the areas of health and hygiene, environmental conservation and education with a particular emphasis on financial literacy.
“From the tour we have taken, we can see that the Centre is really making a difference in the lives of Malawian children. The state-of-the-art facilities here provide doctors with an ideal and well equipped training environment, enabling them to acquire the skills necessary to provide world-class healthcare to Malawian children.”
She disclosed that last year they also responded to an assistance call from Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital for medicine and medical equipment for the children’s oncology and burns units.
“We wish you all the best in running the Centre in a professional way and hope that the Mercy James Paediatric Centre remains a top medical facility and continues to save the lives of our young children,” she said.
The Centre’s Administrator Venancio Kapalamula said the country has just four paediatric surgeons against millions of vulnerable young children and one of their goals is to increase such experts.
He said the Centre is a referral facility catering patients from across the country and being a facility that offers free services, they rely on support from the community and corporate companies like NICO.
He said the facility, which was built and equipped with support from the global music icon Madonna and various international and local donors under the Raising Malawi banner, still has to be assisted by the community.
“One of them is to enhance the number of expert medical professionals so that we can continue to giving the children the best care available.
“So we thank NICO Group for responding to our call for assistance and the funding we have received will go a long way in making sure we have the best professionals at this Centre,” he said.
One of the interesting services the Centre offers is a playroom, equipped with lots of books, learning materials and toys, which also acts as a classroom where kids who are rehabilitating are given academic studies.
It is equipped with special surgeries and has well trained personnel but Kapalamula said going forward there is need to expand it with more state-of-the-art equipment.
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