Ninewells team helping Malawi's first A&E unit
A team from Ninewells Hospital is helping to create Malawi's first accident and emergency unit at a Blantyre hospital.
Charge nurse Pam Napier, consultant Russell Duncan, Mrs Bodole, Mr Klaassen and Dr Nyirenda.
- By Marjory Inglis, health reporter
- Published in the Courier : 09.12.10
- Published online : 09.12.10 @ 12.20pm
As the building nears completion, two of the key players from the Malawi team are visiting Ninewells this week, where their new experiences include learning about frostbite and hypothermia.
"When they left Malawi, it was 30C and when they arrived here it was -6C," said Barry Klaassen, a senior consultant in Ninewells' accident and emergency department.
Mr Klaassen is NHS Tayside's project leader in the Scottish Government-funded partnership with Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre. He and nurse colleague Gwen Gordon will be spending three months in the Malawi hospital, helping to establish the unit.
They expect to leave around the end of February, depending on when the building is ready, and be the first of a wave of Scottish staff who will go and share skills with colleagues in Malawi.
Meanwhile, a doctor and nurse from the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital arrived in Dundee when Scotland was trying to cope with the heaviest snowfall for a generation.
"They have never even seen snow," Mr Klaassen said. "They arrived last weekend and joined us in Ninewells on Monday.
"My colleague who went to pick them up from the airport took plenty of fleeces. We are having to keep them well wrapped up."
He added, "They arrived in a blizzard and have been subjected to some of the coldest winter temperatures for years. It was a dramatic drop in temperature from Malawi."
'Really impressive'
Mr Klaassen's department is hosting the visit by Dr Mulinda Nyirenda, the senior doctor who will lead the new Malawi unit, and Feggie Bodole, a senior critical care nurse.
"They have had some very good days observing practice here and having a tour of the hospital so they understand how our accident and emergency department interacts with all the other services here," said Mr Klaassen.
"Our staff are going to go out and train their staff and support the opening of this new department.
"Quite a lot of NHS Tayside staff are going to be experiencing the Malawi health system."
Mr Klaassen said a team from Ninewells visited Malawi last September and saw the shell of the new unit, adding, "It was really impressive and is going to be a great building."
He said the Malawi project has received over £300,000 from the government's international development fund but there had been local fund-raising as well.
While the priority for Ninewells' guests is to learn how the accident and emergency department operates and what systems can be transferred to the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital unit, they are keen to explore a new culture and have visited Glamis Castle.
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