It’s official, I’m old!  I give a lecture to the final year Pharmacy students on ‘safe prescribing for geriatrics ‘ – in their opinion anyone over fifty is old, and by sixty is elderly (so that’ll be me next year).   Given that the average life expectancy in Malawi is around sixty I suppose they’ve got a point.   Although I’ve been in email contact, we finally meet the delightful Monalisa, the pharmacist who takes over at Queens when Stan finishes this week.   It seems quite amazing that someone who has only just qualified should be running the pharmacy for a tertiary hospital of more than 30 wards and departments.     She’s full of bright ideas and is already popular with many of the clinicians we’ve met.   We share some of the issues that have been raised about pharmacy from our various

Are you ready for that question when Dave writes his quiz?! He clearly didn’t feel that he’d seen quite enough birds at Liwonde so we drive further North to Lake Malawi.  We only get a bit lost getting out of the Game Reserve and don’t encounter any elephants. We find a lovely tranquil lodge on the lakeside but I’m afraid that as they haven’t any power or running water we decide to move.   I’ve never had such bizarre conversations as I ring round to book alternative accommodation. – have you got a double room for tonight? – have you got running water? – have you got hot water for a shower? – have you got power? Wifi isn’t even discussed. Funny how your priorities change over what you can and can’t do without.   We’re lucky we have a choice and can change where we

Whilst I swan off to meet SI Blantyre, Dave is brilliant and spent hours in a hot, ill lit, dusty store room, sorting through the medicines donated specifically to the Children’s Hospital. He definitely deserves a reward! He books us into a safari lodge for the weekend near Liwonde so he can watch some wildlife, especially the birds. (What is it about men of a certain age and our feathered friends?!!!) The map isn’t great and we turn north too soon, ending up on a dusty track, heading roughly in the right direction – thankfully he packed a compass. Dave is in his element driving our hired 4x 4. Signposts are another low priority in Malawi, and Dave is forced to stop several times to ask for directions – I know, but it does show men can do this when necessary! The people are charming

Happily I am able meet up with six members of SI Blantyre and attend their business meeting. Just like my club, they are a lively and opinionated bunch of ladies, keen to make a difference to the lives of women and children in Malawi. Judith (President) hosts it at her house on Friday 18th although they usually meet on Saturdays as most of them are working. Of their thirteen members, Maggie M, Priscilla, Maggie C, Surrey and Lennie are in attendance. I like the idea that they have T-shirt days, i.e they wear Soroptimist t-shirts with SI Blantyre on the back, a good way to raise our profile. They tell me about their current projects and are frank about what has and hasn’t worked. Glitches and hiccups in no way deter them as they review, refine and plan the next quarter’s activities. For many years

As I said in my previous blog, the amazing Robster and his team are funded by Friends of Sick Children to make wheelchairs specifically for children.  He truly is the Father of Invention! With the most basic of equipment and supplies, together with the odd part cannibalised from broken adult chairs he fashions wheelchairs to suit individual children. No mass production here! He proudly showed us round his production area, which desperately needs expanding to increase productivity AND be a safer working area. They’ve already set fire to the roof of one part with the metal cutting equipment. FOSCiM have helped with the plans but he needs more funds for the bricks and mortar. The extension to the workshop is going to cost around £25,000. Each wheelchair is fitted with bicycle wheels at the back and a simple large castor style wheel at the front.

                Today we witnessed a small miracle courtesy of a fantastic man called Robster. He and his team make wheelchairs and fit corner chairs for children, funded by Friends of Sick Children in Malawi. A mum brought in her little boy, only fifteen months, but due to cerebral palsy, he can’t sit up and has to be carried everywhere. This isn’t so much of a challenge whilst he is little but will cause problems for his mum as he gets bigger. It also stops her from working and earning any money. Older children with cerebral palsy are usually left at home, unable to play, and are a burden in every sense. With Robster’s help, the little one sat up for the very first time unaided by his mum but supported by a ‘corner chair’. It’s such a simple

Pharmacy is a new profession in Malawi, it celebrates its tenth anniversary next year when 8 students started their course here at the University of Blantyre. Unsurprisingly it has a long way to go but the students I’ve met and the interns (pre-registration students) are very enthusiastic about taking the role forward, they are fascinated that I have a qualification that allows me to prescribe, and that I advise GPs about their prescribing. The course is growing and this year there are 50 students. The role of the pharmacist in Malawi is nearer to the one I had nearly forty years ago i.e just one of supply. Stan, the main pharmacist at Queen’s only qualified in 2011, he was a technician before that. The pharmacy itself is a rabbit warren of rooms with stuff in boxes piled perilously high. Not only does Stan have to

Today we were taken round the wards, and, with permission from the parents, these are some of the photos we took just from one ward. The high dependency unit within the ward cares for children who need oxygen or IV drips. The rest of the ward is divided roughly between gastro-enterology and cardiac care. The floor is for the children for whom there are no beds for. We were advised that it is quite quiet at the moment, the busy season is when the rains come and there is more malaria. Remember all these children have just 2 nurses with no specialist sick children qualified nurses to support them.

I have been struggling to get my head round some of the facts and figures I’ve been given over the past two days. Today I’ve been taken on a tour round the paediatric hospital by Dr Neil Kennedy; sadly seeing is believing. The Children’s Hospital is part of Queens. Every year 100,000 children are seen in A&E and outpatients and 25,000 children are treated as inpatients on 7 wards.  At any one time on average 75 children ( although it can be up to 100) can be cared for on just one of these wards. At busy times there may be two or even three children to a bed, some may even be cared for on the floor.  Each ward is staffed by two nurses per shift. One nurse will have had basic training, the other a general nursing degree. There are currently NO specialist child health nurses. The hospital is hoping to get

Well we’ve arrived, a bit muddled and tired but all the hold luggage is safely with us which was one of my worries.   We’ve been tested for Ebola (passed!) had our fingerprints and iris recognition taken so clearly we won’t be able to get away with any mischief! The guesthouse at the Beit Cure Hospital is very basic and rather reminds me of when I was a student.   Everyone staying is very friendly but the kitchen cupboards need reorganising, the fridge badly needs sorting and cleaning and there are loads of empty beer bottles that need returning!   Would I seem too bossy / motherly if I tidy it up over the weekend? There are 3 large plastic dustbins in the kitchen which I assumed was for recycling but no, they are full of tap water in case the supply goes again. Apparently recycling