Malawi, Mzuzu central hospital
In western Europe the healthcare situation is developing rapidly.
During recent discussions about medical problems with medical specialists and professors, it appeared that, in their view, the further training of young graduate doctors to become medical specialists should be improved, particularly on a wider scale, outside their special training program.
They note that the training takes place according to national protocols and in most cases also within only one hospital, with each country setting their own requirements for the training separately. On the other hand, they note that health care is becoming increasingly international. They are therefore convinced that additional training as a medical specialist should be more in line with the international character of healthcare.
The EROM project offers young doctors, working in the European Union, the opportunity to work as a medical doctor during a short period in a hospital in another country.
At this moment we have an agreement with the Mzuzu hospital in Malawi, that is interested to accept young European residents for a period of a few months to do voluntary work as a doctor in their hospital.
The hospital is located in Mzuzu, Malawi
Mzuzu
Mzuzu is the capital of Malawi's Northern Region and is the third largest city by population in Malawi. The city has 221,272 residents and 20,000 commuters (Mzuzu University students) with about 1.7 million people in its metropolitan area.
Geography
The Northern Region is a region of Malawi. It had a population of 2,289,780 in 2018, and covers an area of 26,931 km², making it the smallest region both by population and area. Its capital city is Mzuzu. Starting in the north and going clockwise, the Northern Region borders on Tanzania, Lake Malawi, Malawi's Central Region, and Zambia.
Demographics
Mzuzu City, with a population of 133,968 and growing at 4.2 percent per annum, is one of the fastest growing cities in Malawi and is the third largest urban center after Lilongwe and Blantyre. It is the hub of government administration, business, industry, commerce, and services for the northern region of Malawi, and it serves a hinterland with a population of 1,708,930.
Originating from a Tung Oil Estate in 1947, the city has grown from 23km² to 143.8 km² in 2008 and was declared a city in 1985.However, the city lacks adequate infrastructure and services. Over 60 percent of the population lives in unplanned settlements.
The city does not have adequate policies and regulations to support orderly and planned growth. Improvement and expansion of service delivery, proper urban planning and good financial management are crucial for the development of the city.
Mzuzu central hospital.
Mzuzu Central Hospital is one of the four central hospitals in Malawi which opened its doors early 2000 aimed at offering tertiary services to patients in the northern region of Malawi. It provides tertiary care services for the entire population of northern Malawi which is projected at 2,468,702 (National Statistics Office (NSO) 2018). It also provides primary and secondary care services mainly to Mzimba North including Mzuzu City population. Mzimba North District Health Office has no District Hospital which could serve as a secondary level care for its facilities hence utilizes Mzuzu Central Hospital as a secondary care facility. Some facilities also in Nkhata Bay refer patients to Mzuzu Central Hospital due to long distances to the mother facility. As such only about 30% of patients seen deserve tertiary care services. Despite introduction of bypass fee, patients still just walk in and opt to pay the bypass fee.
In its early years the hospital relied on United Nation Volunteers (UNV) and Chinese Medical Team specialists for continued provision of tertiary services and were leaving a gap whenever called off for duties due to contractual agreements.
In the past four years, there has been a tremendous increase of indigenous specialists and general practitioners and has since improved provision of services. With sustained efficient and effective provision of services, there would be changes in most of the indicators in the near future.
Despite providing services to the community, the facility faces a lot of challenges as it cannot provide comprehensive services.determined to provide quality tertiary services as regards its vision aimed at being the leading provider of specialized, evidence based and informed quality health care for people in Malawi.
At this moment the following candidates would be valuable for the hospital:
- medical and dental professionals: students, foundation doctors, house officers, residents, specialty registrars, consultants
- nursing professional: students, registered nurses, specialty nurses
- medical imaging professionals: radiographers, sonographers
- laboratory professionals: laboratory technologists, microbiologists etc
- physiotherapists, orthotics and prosthetics
European residents who are interested to work on voluntary basis in this hospital can contact us:
For contact in the Netherlands: e-mail: j.gisberts@home.nl or jos.gisberts@ecfund.eu Tel. +31654967335
For contact in Italy e-mail: francesco.russo@uniroma2.it of russof@uniroma2.it Tel: +393473111666
We will provide interested candidates with more detailed information about the hospital, the country and the requirements for travelling, visiting the country and working in the hospital.