MediServ: Providing Medical Care and Training in Malawi

During the second week of October, World Camp ran our MediServ program in Lilongwe in partnership with Operation Medical. We hosted 16 health care providers and ancillary staff that performed 60 surgeries and 120 emergency room procedures in one week!

The average patient in need of surgery in the Central Region of Malawi arrives at Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) which has 1,000 beds but typically at least 1,500 admitted patients on any given day. After being admitted to KCH, it is common for patients to wait 2-3 weeks for surgery. During this time, patients stay in 200-person wards, each served by only six nurses. One family member is allowed to stay in the ward with each patient. Just outside the hospital lies a Guardian Area, host to anywhere from 5,000-6,000 relatives of admitted patients. This area has fires for cooking and space for doing laundry. Many patients treated by the MediServ group had waited about 2 months for their surgery.

Upon arrival the first day, MediServ volunteers saw families manually ventilating pediatric patients struggling to breathe. This is ceaseless work that must be tended to every moment of the day.

The MediServ team included three RNs, three nurse anesthetists, six doctors (including Baker Henson), and five ancillary support team members. The group was split into two crews, one of which was performing surgeries, and the other worked in the Emergency Room. Both crews were honored to be able to help Malawian health professional provide services and to offer medical services to Malawians in need.

Some procedures provided included:
Caring for fractures, including a 2 year old with a skull fracture
Performance of two amputations
Multiple mastectomies
Emergency bedside tracheotomy
Removal of masses (abdominal, head, ovarian, a goiter, occipital, chest wall, ovarian)
Treatment of burns – MediServ volunteers estimated that 90% of pediatric cases in the emergency room were burns. Children did not receive pain medication while wounds were being cleaned.
Various musculoskeletal injuries – Bike and car accidents account for many injuries presented in the ER
10 dermatological surgeries

MediServ volunteers were able to visit patients in recovery and even saw some patients discharged. Even the Recovery Room is stretched thin at Kamuzu Central Hospital. There are no EKG or blood pressure monitors, only two nurses, and only one oxygen machine. In the US, there would be one oxygen machine per bed.

Another purpose of the MediServ trip is to provide training to Malawian health care providers. MediServ volunteers worked side-by-side with Malawian practitioners, offering hands-on training in all surgeries and many procedures. Further, Dr. Bipin Patel offered a lecture titled, “Gastro-Intestinal Malignancies” to third year medical students attending Medical College of Malawi.

Overall, the trip was a huge success. World Camp is excited to begin planning the next one. Our plan is to eventually operate two MediServ trips annually. There is a huge need in Malawi for experienced medical professionals. World Camp is addressing this need by providing direct health care and training Malawians.
Thank you to all our MediServ volunteers, our generous donors, Operation Medical, and all the wonderful health care professional with whom we worked in Malawi!