Trinity hospital wint als eerste in Malawi twee onderscheidingen en wordt centre of excellence in infectiepreventie en reproductive health
Op 25 oktober 2015 werden in Muona in het uiterste Zuiden van Malawi aan het Trinity ziekenhuis twee onderscheidingen uitgereikt door de Minister van Gezondheid en werd het ziekenhuis uitgeroepen tot centre of excellence in infectiepreventie en in reproductive health. Daarmee is dit door Passion for Peole ondersteunde ziekenhuis het eerste in Malawi dat deze beide onderscheidingen ontving.
De overheid bepaalde na grondige inspecties eerder dit jaar dat de scores van het ziekenhuis waren: 93% in Infection Prevention/Control en 89% in Reproductive Health. (This meant that Trinity had qualified to be the centre of excellence in Infection Prevention and in Reproductive Health and that Trinity was the first hospital in Malawi to grab the two trophies concurrently.)
De onderscheidingen werden in aanwezigheid van directie en gehele staf in ontvangst genomen door Sister Prisca Phwandaphwanda, the Regional Superior for the Sisters of Divine Providence, de zusterorde die het ziekenhuis ooit oprichten als missieziekenhuis.
Zeker in een land met een hoog percentage gevallen van HIV, hepatitis etc. is infectiepreventie bijzonder belangrijk en het is des te opmerkelijker dat juist dit ziekenhuis in het uiterste zuiden van Malawi de Infectiepreventie onderscheiding ontvangen heeft, in aanmerking nemende dat begin dit jaar nog ernstige overstromingen optraden waarbij vele doden vielen, besmettelijke ziektes uitbraken en oogsten verloren gingen.
Ook het feit dat de kleine verloskliniek en opvang van pasgeborenen zo hoog scoorden is in het licht van de beperkte voorzieningen indrukwekkend.
Wij zijn als Passion for People bijzonder trots op deze prestatie van het ziekenhuis en zenden onze gelukwensen met daaraan verbonden de doelstelling dat we het ziekenhuis ook in de toekomst zullen ondersteunen met apparatuur en materiaal, met facilitering van opleidingen en met gebouwen als de binnenkort gereed komende afdeling voor ondervoede kinderen en vervolgens een verloskliniek.
Onderstaand een klein deel uit het lange verslag dat wij ontvingen met tevens foto’s van de ceremonie rond de uitreiking.
Performance and quality improvement of Reproductive Health and Infection Prevention and Control (RH/IPC) is initiated in order to improve health service delivery in all health facilities in Malawi.
It aims at improving quality of care by following set standards in order to meet millenium development goals 4, 5 and Essential Health Package (EHP) which are aimed at reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/ AIDS, malaria and other diseases through, among others offering good quality health services to individuals, families and the community at large for it is only a healthy community which can contribute positively to the development of the nation.
Through the leadership of Sheila Kadethe as the Hospital Matron, with support from other Quality Improvement Support Team (QIST) members, who included Mylos Mitumbu, Dominica Allan, Everson Kadethe, Raphael Nyakuipa, Anna Bande and William Allan, basic principles of infection prevention were taught to different levels of staff in the hospital. Many topics were discussed in the process like: conditions that allow infections to be transferred to others, how to stop the spread of infections to others, the role of isolation guidelines in preventing nosocomial infections (infections that a patient or client may acquire while in the hospital), the use of personal protective equipment (PPEs), making sure health workers are vaccinated against Hepatitis B virus, ete. etc
Assessable departments
Basically the assessment was being conducted in the whole hospital, with emphasis on the following departments: Out Patient department (OPD):The following were considered: general cleanliness of the department, clean linen, use of chlorine solution 0.5 % for decontamination, hand hygiene, privacy etc. In the maternity ward Assessors were looking for the care of the delivery beds, intake and output, use of personal protective equipment like gloves, head gear, goggles, face mask, heavy duty plastic apron and gum boots among others.
Also postnatal care of the mother and neonate, management of complications of labour, laboratory orders if carried and performed, delivery beds etc. while in other wards emphasis could be on post abortion care where a client would undergo a Manual Vacuum Aspiration (MVA), check of life threatening conditions, present history of illness and past medical history, intake and output, equipment and supplies for MVA.
In the antenatal sector more interesting was to see if health workers are able to take proper history, assess for danger signs, counsel and encourage the client on hospital delivery etc. We were also doing assessment on cervical cancer screening of clients, since this is a major killer of ladies in Malawi. Theatre was not spared; to see how instruments are handled during procedure, how they are decontaminated and cleaned until they are sterilized, among others. These are just some of the examples of the activities which were taking place during these assessments.
With support from Sheila and William at the helm, we still worked extra hard despite some challenges that were hindering quick progress.
Acknowledgement
Many, many thanks should go to Save the Children through SSDI, Nsanje office who have been very committed partners and donors, without whom we would go without goggles, heavy duty aprons, boots, etc. It would not be right if ROC students of Nijmegen, Netherlands are not mentioned here; since they assisted so much in the past in buying and supplying the hospital with gum boots for maternity, curtains, carrier for wet linen, mosquito nets for maternity guardian shelter, in the leadership of Pia and her group.
We would like to thank most sincerely the Passion for People in the Netherlands for donating maternity beds, hospital mattresses, some monitors in theatre, to mention but a few. Without them, we would not talk of a pass in reproductive health because the ladies would be delivering their precious babies on the floor. Great thanks should also go to the Nsanje district health office for being a very reliable and supportive parent; you deserve a pat at the back. Important to mention here the untiring spirit of all the Hospital Management Team members for their supportive supervision, and making sure that the basic supplies for this activity were always available.
