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Medical Aid Society of Malawi (MASM) is leaving no stone unturned in bridging the gap in medical and health welfare of its Malawi Community as envisaged in the launch of Emergency Medical Services.
The society has since launched two ambulances in the pilot phase of the strategic and utility programme to bridge the gap that exists in the Emergency Services in the country.
Six personnel of the society have just returned from Zimbabwe where they under went a training course on effective Emergency First Aid services at MARS Zimbabwe.
Speaking during the launch in Blantyre, Chairman of the MASM Board, Paul Gundumulani said the ambulances are a big relief to Malawians including MASM non members who will be able to access the Emergency services at a call.
“We have started with two, one in Blantyre and another in Lilongwe. Very soon we will be in the north. Our ambulances are not just transporters as is the case with other services, we have well trained personnel who will be handling the cases providing effective First Aid to the clients, before taking them to the hospital,” he said.
“The other unique thing is that being a private operator our clients will be afforded an opportunity to be taken to the hospital of their choice. This is not the case with other service providers who ferry victims to their own hospitals,” said Gundumulani.
MASM General Manager Sydney Chikoti making his speech confirmed that the emergency service field has been facing serious irregularities and repercussions due to unavailability of professional players. “Most accident victims die on the way to the hospital, worse still, some die just few meters before the hospital doors, why- the reason is that, most ambulances are transporters, they have no special provisions for First Aid care services. This is something that we as MASM cannot love to watch continuing,” he said.
“Our ambulances will be stationed at Mwayiwathu in Blantyre, in Lilongwe at Malangalanga Admarc Clinic and in future when we start operating in the north we will be at Katoto,” he said.
“Our services stand to close the gap that exists in the medical services for both small and larger publics,” he said.
He said however for the sake of safeguarding health status of the clients, the ambulances will only be accommodating one client or victim at a time, he said they considered it negative to allow crowding saying doing so would increase infection risks.
A Zimbabwe representative, General Manager Operations at MARS Shingi Chibvongedze, a partner medical service provider in Zimbabwe said: “This is a kind of service that has never occurred in Malawi before and it deserves full attention.”
During the function, medical personnel who will be operating the services made a demonstration showing how they would be handling their clients especially during emergencies like accidents.
Charges for the service are outlined in the following manner.
MASM members will be entitled to a charge of K2, 500 at a call with in a radius of 30 kilometers and an additional K50 per kilometer if the distance exceeds 30 kilometers.
Those people who will only be subscribed to Emergency service only will be required to be remitting K70 per month and charged K5000 for a distance of 30 kilometers with K75 per km on extended distance.
Non MASM members who would require the emergency service just on hire will be required to pay K9, 000 per 30 kilometers with K120 per kilometer on extra distance.
There will be 100 percent coverage on the service as MASM lives with its motto of "Providing Ultimate Health Care Solutions."
Andrew Ngomwa, MASM Marketing Manager, said Emergency Medical Services stands to benefit the larger public with efficient services because it was registered as a separate company. |
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One of the ambulances equiped with state of the art medical equipment. |
