FMB INSIGHT

Anadkats give MK50 million to QE for Trauma Centre - 23/December/09

Dear Colleagues.
We all know that our country has its vast share of social problems ranging from the plight of orphans, inadequate hospital care and poor learning conditions, however, amongst us are a few Good Samaritans who are always ready to lend a helping hand. This edition will highlight a recent donation that caught our attention therefore warranting a special edition.

Adult Emergency Trauma Centre
Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital is the largest service and referral health facility in Malawi. The hospital also functions as the teaching hospital for medical students and a major centre for research. However, QECH lacks a critical component of health care service : an accident and emergency department for adults.

For many years, the public have used a makeshift walk in area with a few small rooms and a single emergency theatre to access emergency services. Medical attention has usually been in the form of clinical assistants each attending to over 100 patients a day in a very confined space. Currently there is no proper room for on-site care or emergency resuscitation leading to death on the queue in extreme cases.

As a result of this gap in health care provision, the Welcome Trust ( the largest charity in UK) committed to build an Adult Emergency Trauma Centre to address the current problems faced by the hospital. However, their funding fell short of the intended target and they sought donations from various organisations and individuals. Their efforts proved fruitful when the Anadkat family made a donation worth over MK50 million towards the cause.

This is the largest amount to be donated by a single family in Malawi history and it breaks the previous record of a 42 block hostel donated to College of Medicine which was funded jointly by FMB and the same family.

The new trauma centre is expected to reduce the death rate among emergency admissions, provide a disaster preparedness facility that can cope with major incidents, offer two theatres, X-ray and ultrasound facilities, a laboratory and a pharmacy among other things. It is being constructed on the old administration block.

This donation is made by the Anadkat family since FMB is a deposit taking institution and a publicly listed company could not justify such a large donation to shareholders.

In honor of the family’s generosity, the name of the trauma centre shall be : The Anadkat-Welcome Trust Emergency and Trauma Centre.

As FMB staff, we are proud to be associated with this family and encourage them to continue to assist where they can. .

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