According to an open letter by Dr Barbara Swarthout, the (currently) only place which will admit the severest cases of coronavirus in Blantyre, is the quarantine center at Kameza while Blantyre Adventist and Mwaiwathu are not accepting any proven or suspected cases of Covid-19.

Swarthout is a family physician and tropical doctor, currently working with Beit Cure International Hospital. In the letter, she outlines that Malawi is yet to implement stricter measures on the prevention of the spread of the pandemic in Malawi. “ If you have symptoms but have not been in contact with a proven case, you will not be tested at this point. Because testing is so restrictive there are likely many more cases” says Swarthout.

She also exposed that Malawi has just realized that it does not have the capacity to have adults on incubation/ventilation for Covid-19. “There will only be a few ICU ventilation beds for severely sick healthcare workers at the ENT wing at Queens. So the treatment center on the Lunzu road will have many beds with oxygen supply, but no ventilators.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Health is in the process of transforming the Kamuzu Nursing Hostel on Lunzu road into a Covid-19 treatment center. Government recently allocated K15 billion to help fight the pandemic, but has only released K1.1 billion thus far.