JICA donates PPEs to Ministry of Health
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has donated Personal Prevention Equipments (PPEs) to the Ministry of Health (MoH) to support in fighting against the spread of Covid-19 pandemic in the country.
On Tuesday, the Ministry through the Department of Quality Management in Lilongwe, received the donation worth K26.1 million (35, 629.99 USD).
Chief Representative for JICA, Yoshikazu Wada said the donation has been made to guarantee the necessary medical services for the public.
Some of the donated items include head cover, infrared thermometers, surgical masks and disposable knee aprons.
Wada said the donation is under the on-going JICA’s technical cooperation program called “Experts on 5S-KAIZEN-TQM for Hospital Management” meant to improve efficiency, quality of services as well as safety of both patients and workers.
Since 2012, Japan has supported the Ministry to introduce and promote the concept of 5S (Sort, Set, Shine, Standardize and Sustain).
“To date, over 40 health facilities in Malawi have embraced 5S practice and more than 20 Malawian national trainers have been trained under JICAs cooperation,” he said.
Head of Quality Management Unit, Dr. Andrew Likaka, said JICAs technical cooperation has been supporting the MoH to step up KAIZEN process, which aims to create conducive working environment to enhance quality and safety through 5S activities on a daily basis in four benchmark hospitals.
“Among the hospital includes Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH), Malamulo Mission, Mzuzu central and Mzimba south district hospital,” he said.
Likaka pointed out that JICA improved their operations and service delivery in those hospitals to enhance their ability to deal with Covid-19 and also protect frontline medical professionals and patients.