Marist Brothers in Malawi donate to Mtendere Community Hospital

Malawi: Marist Brothers in Malawi have donated 11 cradles to Mtendere Community Hospital, a development that effectively helps the hospital stop referrals of underweight babies to Dedza District Hospital, writes Watipaso Mzungu.

Cradles are babies’ beds with high sides and are used for aiding a newborn's development, especially babies born less than 2.5 kilogrammes, by creating for them a sense of security. Babies who spend time in the cradling position can, then, play with their hands, and reach for their parent's face.

Speaking after he handed over the donation to the hospital, National Provincial Councilor for the Marist Brothers in Malawi, Brother Francis Jumbe, said the cradles are aimed at enabling mothers and nurses to provide the best care for the infants.

Although the religious congregation is more inclined to education, Jumbe stated that they are gradually broadening their horizon to ensure that more people benefit from their services.

“We are trying to broaden our horizon and so we have been negotiating with those assisting us to say: Is there any other help that you can also provide apart from the support you give us in our schools? We have been working with some donors that are based in Rome through one of our organizations based in Rome, Italy. And in the course of our interaction, we have been talking about a lot of challenges that people in this part of the world face,” he said.

Jumbe stated that their donors were fortunate to come across an opportunity that would provide some assistance to new mothers. We believe that this will help mothers take better care of their babies. He also stated that it has assisted us in broadening our understanding of the scope of their assistance to those in need, particularly students.

He hinted at allocating more resources to healthcare, pointing out that the sector has many gaps that stymie efforts to provide quality services to clients.

Sarah Laston, a mother who had just given birth to twins at the facility, said the cradles will help her care for her babies until she is discharged.

Laston promised that the mothers would take good care of the equipment to ensure its longevity.

Carolyn Mbite, Nurse and Midwife Technician at Mtendere Community Hospital, stated in her remarks that the hospital used to incur huge costs when referring underweight infants to the district hospital for proper management and care.

Mbite stated that the donated cradles would help them save money because the facility will now be able to handle underweight infants on its own.

“However, the hospital remains under-resourced and this makes it difficult for us to provide optimal healthcare services to our clients. In the labour ward, for instance, we are lacking thermometers, stands, penguin sackers, suctioning machines, oxygen machines, phototherapy machines and feeding cups. I wish to take advantage of this donation to appeal to other well-wishers to assist us in this regard,” she appealed.