Nkhata Bay Hospital oxygen plant down
Nkhata Bay District Hospital officials have confirmed the break-down of the oxygen plant that also supports Mzuzu Central Hospital (MCH) service providers.
Nkhata Bay District Hospital spokesperson Christopher Singini Monday said the plant had not been functioning effectively for over six months.
“I can confirm that the plant is no longer performing effectively. We, at the hospital, will require close to K45 million to hire experts from abroad to fix the problem, which has lasted for over six months.
“We wish our local experts from the maintenance department were trained in how to repair the plant because we feel it will be so costly to be inviting experts from abroad whenever we experience a problem,” Singini said.
Singini said the experts who designed the plant— in South Africa and the United States— did not share their expertise with workers from the maintenance department at the facility.
The problem has cropped up just when the country is registering an increased number of coronavirus cases.
As of Sunday, 128 new cases had been recorded in the country.
Patients that are on Covid-19 treatment require more oxygen and, in the Northern Region, it is only Nkhata Bay District Hospital that has the plant.
Presidential Taskforce on Covid-19 Chairperson John Phuka said the government planned to set up an oxygen plant at MCH that would cater for all hospitals in the Northern Region.
“We have just commissioned one at Kamuzu Central Hospital and this process started in June this year. I don’t know when we might be in the North but such plants are very crucial for hospital operations,” Phuka said.
MCH uses K62,000 for one oxygen cylinder and the facility requires 15 cylinders at its intensive care unit and other wards per day.
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