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Letters to the Editor
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Malawi
Less progress than expected
From Mr M. Thomas,
MRPharmS
After reading the article on pharmacy
in Malawi (PJ, 26 February, p240),
I felt moved to write this letter. I emigrated to the Federation of Rhodesia
and Nyasaland early in 1956, and was appointed as officer in charge of
government medical stores in Zoma, Nyasaland. The country was still very
much a colonial territory. It took several years for federation to become
established, if ever it really did; Malawi and independence were still
some years away.
There were just three of us government pharmacists for many years and one
non-government one, who had a retail outlet in Blantyre. The medical stores
supplied the many missions, the African hospitals and the two European
ones. Pharmacy was but a small part of the stores; I had a huge ordnance
section of hundreds of items. I had a basic formulary for the continuous
production of mixtures, lotions, etc. The centrepiece of the dispensary
was an 80-gallon drum, complete with propeller shaft and small motor. There
were no proper tarmac roads then, only dirt tracks, but our three-ton truck
coped well on journeys throughout the land.
We had a large number of African medical aides and assistants trained in
basic medical skills and drug usage; they could also perform elementary
surgical operations.
There were outbreaks of smallpox from time to time and leprosy was a real
problem, and of course the ever-present malaria. A large percentage of
the population had many of the tropical diseases.
I like to think that 20 or so government doctors and we pharmacists did
a good job. Our presence really counted. Certainly the everyday problems
were often more than a challenge. It saddens me that with the passage of
time, nigh on 50 years, there seems to be far less progress than that span
of time would indicate.
Mervyn Thomas
Bexhill,
East Sussex |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal