As part of its response to the coronavirus pandemic, the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Programme (MLW) has opened an oxygen concentration plant in Blantyre, Malawi.
Opened last week by Malawi’s Minister for Local and Rural Development, Dr. Ben Phiri, the plant will produce over a million litres of oxygen a day for Blantyre’s Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital and surrounding facilities.
The plant is in part funded by a grant from MLW partner, the Wellcome Trust, which provided the programme with over £2m, that was also used to provide PPE to staff.
Working in partnership with a partially completed government project, MLW procured and installed the oxygen concentration plant, which will supply oxygen to the 100 specialist beds within the hospital.
The plant will also be used to fill bottles that can be taken off site to other nearby settings, ensuring oxygen is available to all with a clinical need in the region.
Professor Stephen Gordon is MLW’s Director, said, “With almost no supplies of oxygen in the health system in March, this plant will make a massive difference. It was not without its own challenges though, as the cessation of all commercial flights meant that the engineers building the plant could not travel from South Africa.”
“We are grateful that Illovo Sugar South Africa Limited offered us their company jet to ensure that the engineers were able to get here to complete the project. The plant itself will have a lasting legacy within Malawi, as post COVID the plant will be vital in the ongoing treatment of those suffering from TB, pneumonia, HIV related lung conditions and those suffering from chronic lung disease.”
MLW is a partnership between Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the University of Malawi’s College of Medicine, University of Liverpool and the Wellcome Trust.
