{"id":12007,"date":"2026-11-03T12:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T12:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/?p=12007"},"modified":"2026-10-29T13:50:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T13:50:49","slug":"malawi-beyond-healthcare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/11\/03\/malawi-beyond-healthcare\/","title":{"rendered":"Malawi. Beyond healthcare"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Community Hospital – founded over half a century ago in the Mchinji district of the country\u2019s central region by the Carmelite Sisters of Kapiri parish – has become a key point of reference for the area. The importance of mobile clinics.<\/em><\/p>\n

The hospital, managed by religious sisters, is one of 19 healthcare facilities operated by the Archdiocese of Lilongwe. Sister Jovita Protazio, the hospital administrator, notes that the Carmelite sisters established their community there in 1971 and opened the hospital a year later. They began with an outpatient clinic and a maternity ward, later adding other services.<\/p>\n

The hospital has since significantly expanded its facilities; it now features, among other things, an X-ray room, an emergency department, a laboratory, and clinics for trauma and dental care, as well as services dedicated to HIV treatment. The trauma service is particularly vital, as many patients arrive following road accidents. Meanwhile, the dental clinic – which has been open for only a few months – is already treating 10 to 15 patients daily.<\/p>\n

The community hospital also provides a dedicated area for the families of inpatients, offering sleeping quarters, a water well, and a cooking space. This last feature is crucial, as families are responsible for providing food for patients who require a hospital stay of several days. In total, the centre has 160 beds, plus another 24 for pregnant women, distributed across three wards: paediatric, female, and male.<\/p>\n

To care for the patients arriving daily, the facility employs a staff of approximately 150 people across all departments and services. This is a significant achievement because, as Brian Odhiambo – head of Catholic Church social services in the area – notes, one of the major problems facing the country is a shortage of healthcare staff, which \u201cconsiderably impacts service delivery in some of these facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sister Rose Guevara, the hospital\u2019s financial manager, says: \u201cThe hospital\u2019s financial needs are met partly through archdiocesan funds, but also through state collaboration and private donations. Certain medications, particularly those for HIV, are distributed free of charge thanks to existing agreements with the government. However, there are other medicines for which patients must pay, at least in part.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond financial constraints, the community hospital faces other serious challenges. One is energy; electricity consumption is quite high due to factors such as medical equipment and laundry operations. The power supply is unreliable, with frequent outages, so the centre relies on a diesel generator that consumes a significant amount of fuel. Although solar panels with battery storage have been installed, they cannot meet the facility’s total energy needs. Compounding this issue is the problem of sterilizing surgical equipment. Their current machine has broken down, and repairs would be very costly; consequently, until a new one arrives, they must sterilize instruments using traditional methods, requiring extra vigilance to prevent the transmission of infections.<\/p>\n

The hospital serves an area with a population of approximately 70,000. The communities furthest from the facility are more than twenty kilometres away. For this reason, the hospital\u2019s programs include mobile clinics. A team of specialists travels to the most remote villages three days a week.<\/p>\n

Mobile clinics are crucial, as they provide a way to bring healthcare to the most isolated areas and ensure the continued delivery of an essential service. The work carried out by the Carmelite sisters of Kapiri therefore goes beyond mere healthcare provision; their efforts over more than five decades have resulted in high-quality care that sets them apart from other health centres in the country. (Gonzalo Vit\u00f3n – Photo: Boniface Gbama)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Community Hospital – founded over half a century ago in the Mchinji district of the country\u2019s central region by the Carmelite Sisters of Kapiri parish – has become a key point of reference for the area. The importance of mobile clinics. The hospital, managed by religious sisters, is one of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12008,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12007"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12009,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12007\/revisions\/12009"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}