Medical & Nursing Programme 2012

St. Joseph's Hospital, Blantyre, Malawi

St. Joseph's Hospital is based in a rural setting in Blantyre, and has a catchment area of approx. 55000 people. It has an Out-Patients Dept., which sees almost 18000 people per year, hospital admissions are approx. 8000 per year and it operates a large Maternity Unit for the more complicated maternity cases and is also referral centre for smaller rural clinics. The hospital also has a Palliative Care Unit, Pharmacy, and a TB Unit with Out Patients Clinics. Staff include 2 doctors, 6 clinical officers, 4 medical sisters, (nurses), together with a pharmacy technician, a dental technician as well as other staff, totaling 200. 

Structured outreach clinics are staffed by St Joseph's Hospital and this provides healthcare education to communities which live within a 15-20 k radius from the hospital.

 The services provided at Outreach are:

• Vaccination Clinics
• Ante -Natal Clinics
• Under 5 Clinics

All of the above programmes are carried out as part of their Primary Health Care initiative. The hospital has a service agreement with the Ministry of Health to be a referral Unit for Maternity cases from 3 outlying rural areas. St Joseph's is hoping to achieve its Millennium Goal by reducing maternity deaths, currently it has 0.2%, while the country average is 8%.

Contraceptive advice is also provided by the hospital.

 A computer system is used to track which medicines have been allocated to specific patients. However,  this system could be utilized more effectively, i.e. to keep an account of the amount and types of medications used and distributed. It will also assist them in knowing disease prevalence and will assist them in maintaining adequate stock control of medical supplies. We are currently seeking a volunteer  with a pharmaceutical background who can organise this computerised system for the staff at St Josephs.

The hospital has a Clinical officer in charge of Physiotherapy but does not have a specific Physiotherapy dept, however, they can organise work for Physiotherapists who wish to travel. St. Joseph's is also a training hospital, therefore, we seek Medical and Nursing Tutors/Clinical Teachers etc to join us on our 2011 project.

Playing for Life are working with the Hospital on their requirements for this programme, which will almost certainly include:

• A mother and child vaccination programme to outreach clinics of the hospital.
• Relief work in the maternity wards
• Relief work in the general hospital
• Reorganisation of the pharmacy and its computerised ordering and accounting systems
• Building of new wards.

We are looking for volunteer Doctors, Nurses, Nursing tutors, Physiotherapists, Pharmacists, Para Medics, or any one working within a medical or nursing sphere to travel with us this year. If you are interested in helping with this programme, please contact Anne Jones at 087 6300201,  Playing for Life at 045 482 479 or email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

We would also welcome donations of medical equipment but cannot bring pharmaceutical products with us. Sr Mercy would also ask if we could bring surgical gloves, Blood pressure monitors,  stethoscopes, etc with us. Please let us know if you can help in sourcing this equipment.

Thank you,

Tracy.