MALAWI - Beit Cure International Hospital

Today I am going to tell you why my son in law, Jon decided to take his family from the home comforts of Australia to volunteer and work as a Bio- Medical Engineer at the Beit Cure International Hospital in Malawi. However the story really starts over 100 years ago. CLICK HERE to find out about a wonderful man called Alfred Beit.

The Beit CURE International Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi is a 66-bed teaching hospital that specializes in treating the orthopedic needs of children and adults. The facility was opened in 2002 and serves children with physical disabilities regardless of their ethnic background, religious affiliation or ability to pay.

At this point I am showing you a short video (from YouTube) where Dave, who I met at the hospital talks a little about the work that goes on in the the private wing so that children can have their operations free.

You can access it at 

http://youtu.be/Dy5RGv3OKNk

If there is a black space below, click it and the  video will appear.

Annually, Beit CURE Malawi sees about 8,000 patients and performs 1,100 surgeries. The hospital also has special expertise in total hip and knee replacement surgery, one of the very few places where this surgery is available in Sub-Saharan Africa. The hospital treats a wide range of orthopedic conditions including clubfoot, burn contractures, osteomyelitis and other acquired or congenital conditions. In addition, Beit CURE Malawi also provides physiotherapy and chiropractic services.  See how this hospital all started.  CLICK HERE.

As I am from a medical background I was keen for Jon to give me a tour of the hospital and below are some of the shots I took. 

Over time this old generated above had worked well however it needed replacing and Jon was very proud of his new recent acquisition below.  Jon is responsible for all the machines in all the departments in the hospital and loves working there although he says it is very frustrating at times as he cannot get spare parts easily and when they do come they are not all that good quality. 

When returning from the tour I passed these beautiful flowers, then we joined Judith in the café and watched the children play in the little playground.

Now isn’t this a great vehicle in a hospital for children to play in.

Of course Annika wanted a patient so 'moi' was laid in the ambulance!

 Then before going home I went to get mandasi from a local woman who spends all day making these.  It is like a deep fried dough-like bun which you see above and is deep fried.  Not really good for you however the Malawian people eat it all the time but then they walk miles and miles most days so you rarely find anyone overweight here like the western world!

I hope you I am very enjoyed this post and found it interesting. I am very proud of Jon and his family in coming to Malawi to be part of a team who is willing to help less fortunate people.

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