Mr John Mwanza has been appointed to work fulltime for the department of Public relations/Fundraising to be established at the hospital, – as yet for two months on trial.
Since the cost of maintenance of buildings and equipment and the procurement of equipment is not covered by the hospital’s government grant, finding funds elsewhere has become a necessity for the Hospital Management. In fact this has always been the case, but John Mwanza shall co-ordinate the various efforts and work on sustainability.

John Mwanza is one of the children who were sponsored by Orphan Venerable Children (OVC) from the Friends of St. Francis Hospital between the years 2007 to 2009. After his secondary school in 2012 he worked as a deport data clerk for Food Reserve Agency. In 2013 John went and did secondary teachers’ diploma in mathematics and Religious Education and completed in 2015.

John Mwanza is familiar with the hospital – he has worked as a Hospital revenue collector and One Stop Centre (GBV) data entry clerk and provider for first-line support to GBV (Gender Based Violence) survivors at SFH. Through his passion to give his level best the St. Francis Hospital Management appointed him to work as a fundraiser/PR.

If you have can help John in any way with suggestions or support, mail to mwanzajohn12[at]gmail.com  *

*The format of this email address has been changed to avoid spam. Replace the [at] by the usual @ and send your mail to John.

Hospitals in Zambia are divided into three main categories: District Hospitals (First Level Hospitals), General Hospitals (Provincial Hospitals or Second Level Hospitals) and Specialist Hospitals (Tertiary Referral Hospitals or Third Level Hospitals).
The Zambian Ministry of Health has by means of a letter dated 15 July 2022 granted the request submitted by the SFH Board for St Francis’ Hospital to be upgraded from a second level hospital to a Third Level Hospital (Specialist Hospital).
The HPCZ (Health Professions Council of Zambia) assessed the suitability of the upgrade. The hospital scored well except in the area of human resource.
To consolidate this upgrade to level 3 the Zambian Ministry of Health and the hospital management will work together to find the specialist staff required for the new level.
Congratulations to the hospital management are in order. This important step taken by the Ministry of Health is a recognition of all the hard work and excellent service St Francis’ has delivered over the years.

Read the letter of the Zambian Ministry of Health here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Friends of St Francis Katete donated towards a project for an oxygen generator, powered by solar panels. It took a while, but now the generator is up and running, saving lives and saving the hospital a lot of time and money. Andrew Cairns reports:

“After two and half years of fund raising by the Friends of St Francis Katete, for equipment acquisition and installation, the hospital now has a fully functioning Oxygen Plant that during the day is fully powered by Solar. It was so impressive to visit the hospital in November/December 2021 and to see that all the plans, so careful in their making, have all come together.
The oxygen plant was acquired through Mulilo Gases (Zambia) Ltd and purchased through Inmatec of Germany.
The solar power plant was designed, engineered, supplied and installed by YouGo Ltd based in Lusaka.
Muntanga Munkombwe was the main Independent consultant who during the whole process has been invaluable to the solar project. His work has been exemplary.

At last, the hospital will no longer have to reply upon to a round trip to Kafue of just less than 1,100 kms to fill oxygen cylinders. The hospital is now providing oxygen to other medical institutions from Nyimba to Lundazi. It has already saved many lives.
As the oxygen plant, for its operation during the day, has been using solar power alone, the hospital’s carbon footprint has been reduced by 2.25 tons over the last 3 weeks (to 27th December 2021).

Due to financial constraints in the solar plant’s initial installation, we are now trying to raise more funds to acquire more batteries for extended backup use. It is hoped that the once the additional batteries are connected, there will sufficient capacity to power the oxygen plant, all four theatres, ICU, SCBU, labour wards and the children’s ward for up to 5 hours in emergencies. For the remainder of the night, we will have to rely on power from ZESCO or diesel gensets that are ailing having had them serve for more than 20 years.

One the of the big plusses in the way the solar system has been set up is that as funding allows, we will be able to add more PV panels, inverters, batteries etc. The long-term dream would be for the hospital to be energy self-sufficient.

If you would like to donate towards this project or to other work at the hospital, please click here.

If you would like to know more about the hospital and its work in improving the health and welfare of the Zambian people, please contact andrew.cairns[at]@fosfkct.org.uk.
(The above email address is written in a way to avoid spam. Please replace [at] by the usual @.)

 

 

Sunday, 28th November 2021 from 2 till 4 pm: due to Covid partners meet again via Zoom.  In this meeting, where Zambian, UK and European partners are present, major issues will be addressed in the field of fundraising opportunities, projects on hand, possible future projects, but above all: how can partners join forces to be more effective. Click here to download the notes of the meeting.