Holy Family Mission Hospital - Pro Phalombe

HOLY FAMILY MISSION HOSPITAL……. In the beginning of September wegot the good news that the container hadarrived in Blantyre. The only thingremaining was to clear the container withthe MRA (Malawian Revenue Authority).Surprisingly this went with out any delay.The only little problem was that the truck,on which the container was loaded, brokedown on its way to the hospital. On the….of September the container was finallydelivered. The unpacking of the container……………………………………………….Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART)program at Holy FamilyMission Hospital.Holy Family Mission hospital with theinitiative of national aids commission(NAC) and not forgetting hard workingdoctors, clinicians and nurses started theART clinic in July 2005. All medical staffunderwent training on the treatment ofHIV (+) patients.From the start of theART program we have been facingmultiple challenges;The running of the clinic is in the handsof just a few clinicians and nurses. Thework is done on voluntary bases with outany additional financial compensation.The ART staff is expected to continuetheir regular duties next to running theART clinic. The clinic is situated in a preexistingbuilding, with small and poorlyventilated rooms. . From the community,stigma and discrimination are still major achallenge for the clients to attend ARTClinic. Especially the male populationseems to have difficult with the stigma.They are the ones reluctant to be testedon HIV. If not tested, these clients are notable to excess the ART clinic services.Most of the clients on ART have to travellong distances to get their monthly supplyof drugs.Quite a few clients are unable to managethis either because of their poor physicalcondition, or they lack the financialresources to pay for their transport.was like a little calibration. Staff of thehospital were gathered around, and eachitem coming out, was welcomed withcheers of joy. As one nurse said:Christmas comes early this year…………….. Sitting behind one of thecomputers donated by ASz, typing thisaccount of past happenings, I amconvinced that the two coming years ofour collaboration will be as fruitful as thefirst. Zikomo Kwambiri!!!!!……………………………………………….Despite all these challenges, the programstarted and now we are proud to say thatwe have managed to register 1296clients since the program started in 2005.OVERRAL REPORTTOTAL NUMBER OF MALES 485[38%]TOTAL NUMBER OF FEMALES791[61%]TOTAL NUMBER OF CHILDREN64[5.1%]Currently on average 35 new patients areregistered on ART every month. Theclinic is run every Tuesday andThursday. The number of staff comprisesof five nurses, four cliniciansand two clerks. In spite of the shortage ofhuman resource, we have managed toget a certificate of excellence inmanaging the clinic, handed out by theministry of health for every quarter sincethe start of the clinic.A new development is the opening of fourART clinics in health centers in thedistrict. Hopefully this will lead todecongestion of our clinic at Holy Family.All in all, Holy Family is doing a good jobin the HIV/AIDS program, despite that ithas a big catchment area (population of300.000). We also feel that there is agrowing sense amongst to population ofour district on the importance of findingout once HIV status and accessing theservices provided by our hospital.Hope to meet you next quarter.Mr. M. Phwandaphwanda, NMT6