Third Wave in Zambia?

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Ms Chaze Sibamba, Social Worker at St Francis’ Hospital reports:
“Katete is fine and the weather is getting cold now, with the change in weather there have been reports on national TV that the covid cases are also increasing. Our worry and fear is that a third wave is imminent which reportedly is more serious.
We are being reminded to sanitize and mask up all the time. As a country we received the Astra Zeneca vaccine.
Health workers are the first to be considered for vaccination.
As St Francis we were given about 1000 jabs which was meant to cater for the students as well as members of staff, but very few – only about 60 members of staff out of 600 – had volunteered to get the vaccine.
About 150 that got the vaccine were people that came in from the general public. With the students there was also a very low turn out; less than 80 got the jab.In Zambia many people have there own misconceptions concerning the future side effects associated with the covid vaccines and probably that may have contributed to the low turn out of people getting it.
Later on government decided that all the vaccines be withdrawn from the facilities and rather leave the exact numbers for those that got the first vaccination, which leaves us unsure whether in future the government will bring in other vaccines for people that never received. The strategy that they have put in place in your country for self test is a very good one, its a good way of quickly going into self quarantine and probably a hopeful solution in reducing the spread of covid.”

RIP Namushi Samutumwa

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On May 25 Namushi Samutumwa died. She had been feeling unwell and returned to Katete from Lilongwe, Malawi, where she had only just finished her studies at Kamuzu College of Nursing (University of Malawi). She was operated on in the hospital, but sadly her condition was too serious.
She died in the Intensive Care Unit, only a couple of days after her return to Katete. She leaves behind her husband, Mr Hillam Kalumbi, engineer at the hospital, and five children, the youngest being only five years old. Our heartfelt condolences are for Hillam and the children.

Namushi Samutumwa Kalumbi had been working as a nurse at St Francis’ since January 2005.  At the instigation of Dr Lalick Banda, MSI of St Francis’ Hospital, she decided to do a Bachelor of Science in Child Health Nursing. The Medical Support Group of the Netherlands supported her during her training.
She started her training in November 2018. Although life in Malawi, away from husband and children was not always easy for her, she managed to obtain excellent results.
During her holidays she hardly took time off, and worked normal shifts at the Children’s Ward.

In March 2020 the Kamuzu College in Malawi closed because of Covid-19, and Namushi returned to Katete. She again resumed work at the Children’s Ward and followed lessons and did her exams online, which was not easy because of the erratic power supply at Katete. Only in September 2020 could she go back to college. However, she managed to finish her thesis on time and handed it in. The sad thing is that she worked so hard and was so very, very near to her goal.

All of the hospital staff and MSG who funded her studies sincerely regret the passing of such a talented and hard working lady. Rest in Peace, dear Namushi.

 

Oxygen plant and solar power – please donate!

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Both projects Oxygen plant and Solar power have made serious progress. Mr Andrew Cairns, Hon Treasurer/Trustee of the Friends of St Francis’ Hospital (FOSFKCT – Charity Regd no: 284717 ) reports:

‘The Oxygen Plant arrived at St Francis Hospital earlier this year and we have now paid for the gas’s distribution to the Intensive Care Unit, the Labour Wards, the Caesar Theatre, Special Care Baby Unit and the Children’s Ward. We expect this to be installed shortly. Oxygen is already being piped to the main Theatre Block.
We are in the process of acquiring oxygen cylinders and individual trolleys to supply the General and Surgical wards and have now appointed contractors to install a solar array and associated equipment primarily to power the Oxygen Plant.
It is hoped that this equipment will not only provide sufficient power to run the Oxygen Plant, but also to charge batteries for night-time power and to light the entire hospital during the day.  It is also hoped that the batteries will also be able to provide light to the critical areas at night.’

Mr Cairns thanks those who have already donated towards this project. Once the entire system is operational, many lives will be saved.
But: More is needed to complete this project. If you would like to make a donation towards this project, please follow the link by clicking here and go to the donation page.  For those of you who are UK resident and taxpayers, you can gift aid your contribution by clicking the appropriate box, increasing the value of your gift by 25%. If an appropriate declarations needed, donors will receive an email attaching a declaration for signature and return.
For more information about these projects you can contact FOSH: andrew[at]andrewcairnsifa.co.uk *

*To avoid spam Andrew Cairns’ email address has no direct link. Copy the address and replace [at] by the usual @ and send a mail to Mr Cairns.

 

Robert Bleichrodt Burns Unit

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Prof Dr Robert Bleichrodt, an eminent surgeon from the Netherlands, has worked at St Francis’ Hospital for years before his final retirement as a doctor. During his stay at the hospital he initiated the building of a Burns Unit where the complicated treatment of (major) burns can take place safely (infection is one of the greatest risks). While working in Zambia he motivated his colleagues in the Netherlands to donate and sought the help of The Medical support group of SFH (SFH-MSG). The completely rebuilt and fully equipped Burns Unit is now managed by a Zambian medical team chaired by Dr Kumwenda who is the head of the Surgical Department.
The SFH Management honoured Dr Bleichrodt by naming the department after him: the Robert Bleichrodt Burns Unit.

Partners meeting 2nd May

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On May 2 a partners’ meeting was held via Zoom. 18 members of various partners in Scotland, England and the Netherlands joined in, listened to and actually saw the presentation of Dr Lalick Banda. The aim of the meeting was to establish how partners can join efforts, for example in the field of fundraising, and to create awareness about each others projects in order to be of better service to the hospital.
Participants in the meeting: St Francis’ Hospital Management (Lalick Banda and Fred Ntongwe), Christian Aware Team, Logie Legacy, Friends of St Francis’ Hospital, SFH Medical Support Group.
The meeting started at 10.00 AM and ended 12.15 PM. Participants found it very useful and decided to Zoom-meet again in 6 months time.

 

 

SFH monthly bulletin March 2021- Read the news and adopt a project!

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This is the third issue of the new St Francis’ Hospital Bulletin with interesting news for and about donors and partners. Read about Tim Legge and the Christian Aware Team who provided funds for the procurement of school requisites for a new hospital initiative. The hospital has set up a project to teach the ‘waiters’ – young pregnant women staying on  the hospital premises awaiting their delivery. Many of these young women, often still girls, have missed ut on their formal education. In this hospital project they are being taught by the teachers under special education of Jersey School. The first lesson was done on april 2021.
Read all news items in the Volume March bulletin and download it here.

Also the building housing the oxygen plant is making progress, and the new Physio Department is at its final stages of construction.

Do you have questions or do you want to support a project? Please go to our contact page!

 

MSG reports: Physio block nearly ready

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On April 9 the Dutch MSG (stfrancishospital-msg.nl) received reports from project manager Mr Chungu stating the progress of building the new Physio Department. The reports show that the building is going quite according to schedule. The builder is the Zambian contractor Top Firm.
The Dutch charity Wilde Ganzen (Wild Geese – English page) supported this MSG project with a contribution of 50% of the total project money, e.g. 50 cents to every Euro raised by MSG itself.

 

St Francis’ Hospital news bulletin no 2.-Read the news!

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Here you can download the new issue of the St Francis Hospital Bulletin, the February/March issue. In this issue: the Muslim community in Eastern Province pledged materials to finish the building which is to house the brand new Oxygen Plant donated by the Friends of St Francis’ Hospital, the building of the new Physio Block is well on its way and hospital staff was trained in Pulmonary Resuscitation.

If you have any questions to ask the Hospital management, please consult our contact page on this website.

Representatives of the Muslim Community in Eastern Province touring the Oxygen Plant with MSI Dr Lalick Banda and Senior Hospital Administrator Mr Fred Ntongwe.

Oxygen plant at St Francis’ Hospital

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Mr Andrew Cairns of the Friends of St Francis’ Katete Charitable Trust reports on 18 february 2021 that the oxygen plant has now arrived at St Francis’ Hospital.  The plant is located between York Ward, Theatre and the Laboratory.  The building to house the plant is under construction. Mr Cairns wishes to thank everybody who kindly donated towards this project.
The Friends of St Francis’ are now trying to raise funds to pipe oxygen to the wards and also to provide the plant with an uninterruptible power supply.

Most of the electrical power in Zambia is provided by hydro-electricity principally from Lake Kariba, Kafue Gorge and the Luapula River.  Towards the end of the dry and at the beginning of the wet seasons (the dry season is normally from March to October), water levels dwindle – reducing capacity.  With a growing population, there is not enough power to go around and therefore power cuts are the norm.  Whilst the hospital has two rather old electricity generators that run on diesel during the power cuts, they are very expensive to run.  Zambia has an abundance of sunlight so it is logical to consider solar energy to power the oxygen plant.
If you would like to make a donation to pipe oxygen to the wards and for solar energy for the oxygen plant, please click here: donate.  As the Friends of St Francis Katete is a Charitable Trust, UK tax-payers can Gift Aid the donation.  If this applies to you, please tick the relevant box when making the donation.

Logie Legacy: for a closer working relationship with partners

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The Logie Legacy has secured a a capacity building Scottish Government grant to explore how our partnership with the hospital has functioned over the years with a view to learning lessons from the past and to strengthen their engagement going forward. An important element in the contribution of the Logie Legacy has been to foster closer relationships with other partners involved with St Francis Hospital. A highlight was the European Partners weekend back in November 2019 with a follow up Zoom meeting in May last year. Some excellent ideas emerged from these events. The Logie Legacy proposes to hold another Zoom Meeting – possibly in April 2021.

Informal discussion at the partners’ meeting in Scotland