Kamuzu Central Hospital runs out of Covid-19 isolation space as Malawi cases soar

Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) in Lilongwe has run out of coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic isolation space and treatment centre.

Hospital administrator Jonathan Ngoma said all the 15 bed space is already taken up.

“We are supposed to have 15 Covid-19 patients but we are currently having 21 of them.

“We are engaging the ministry of Health on the matter,” he said.

Ngoma suggested the government needs to identify a new isolation and treatment centre in Lilongwe apart from the referral hospital.

He said apart from lack of space, the Covid-19 patients are increasingly facing lack of oxygen, drugs and human resource.

Meanwhile, infectious disease specialist Titus Divala said many people in the country may be infected with the pandemic and that the situation was becoming scary.

“The bad news from this is that local transmission is very high, However, the number of deaths is far smaller than expected.

“If the epidemic was to behave as it did in Europe or China, we would have registered a lot of deaths by now,” said Divala.