Mzuzu Medical Centre, an ongoing innovative project in Mzuzu, Malawi.

In order to contribute to addressing the prevailing challenges of access to adequate healthcare services in Malawi, the trustees of MHF propose to set up an advanced healthcare facility, both in scope and depth. According to a resolution passed in 2019 to this private medical centre in Mzuzu will initially comprises of 120-bed hospital, Filter clinics, State of the art laboratory, Clinical research facility, Wellness Centre and School of Medicine.

The Centre will be built to include innovative delivery of healthcare services to the rural areas and to those unable to physically visit the hospital, through the adoption of eHealth which would include eMedicine.

Facility and Construction

The Hospital (including the School of Medicine and wellness Centre) will be located in Mzuzu which is 30 minutes away from the scenic Lake Malawi beaches. The hospital will be close to the City of Mzuzu (Capital to northern region) housing government and non-governmental offices. Mzuzu City, with a population of 133,968 and growing at 4.2 percent per annum, is one of the fastest growing cities in Malawi and is the third largest urban centre after Lilongwe and Blantyre. It is the hub of government administration, business, industry, commerce, and services for the northern region of Malawi, and it serves a hinterland with a population of 1,708,930.

Land, Building and Civil Works

The total area requirement of the project is estimated at 5 hectares, out of which the built-up area is estimated to be 3,5 hectares. The total cost of building and cost of other civil works, at an average cost of US$2,000 per Square Metres

Exceptional Client Service

Mzuzu Medical Centre will create a competitive advantage through offering exceptional client experience which will encourage word of mouth advertising and increase referrals by existing clients to new clients. This will contribute

Clients courtesy visits
Front office client service and skills upgrade

Client Retention and Relationship Management is a key component of ensuring we maintain and attract more customers. The deliverables include:

Auditing the client pathway – this will focus on how the staff the frontline in particular is handling the clients.
Client Satisfaction Survey (CSS) will assist with obtaining information and measure customer satisfaction levels.
Client Account Management will specifically address the key accounts by giving them the necessary attention
Training the vital frontline staff in handling clients
Offer free health talk to various corporate clients
Offer free minor health talk to various stakeholders such as churches, companies, at different high consumers traffic areas such as malls

Project Summary

1	Name of Project	Mzuzu Medical Centre (MMC)
2	Infrastructure	1. Main Hospital – 120 Beds* 2. Filter Clinic 3. Mzuzu School of Medicine 4. Laboratory – to collaborate with Lancet Laboratories 5. Clinical Research Centre 6. Wellness Centre
3	Services to be offered	1. General and Specialist medical services (in and outpatients) 2. Preventative healthcare services (Wellness Centre) 3. Medical Training 4. Laboratory services 5. Clinical research 6. Pharmaceutical services 7. Community outreach program – Mobile Clinic
4	Location / Site	Mzuzu in Mzimba District, Malawi
5	Project Cost
6	Funding Structure
7	Sponsors	Mzuzu Foundation Founders: 1. Dr. Newton Kumwenda 2. Professor Peter Nyasulu 3. Professor Johnstone Kumwenda
8	Proposed Technical and Hospital Managers	Managing and Operating the hospital facility
9	Funders / Source of Funds	Shareholders (Equity)
10	Engineers	Makhosi Engineer
11	Transaction Advisory	Tafika Holdings Limited
12	Project Construction Period	Estimated to be +/- 2 Years
13	Engineering Consultants	Makhosi Engineers
14	Building Contractors	.
15	Potential Medical Equipment Suppliers
16	Source of Revenue
18	Estimated Revenue per annum
19	Financial Performance Indicators	Return on Investments

The Medical Centre (Hospital, Filter Clinic, Research Centre, Wellness Centre, School of Medicine), will be designed to be a recognized leading facility not only in Malawi and the neighboring countries of Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique, but also the entire region. The facility will be built on 5 hectare land which has been already acquired by the sponsors. Several partnerships will be mooted and pursued to ensure mentorship programs benefit the hospital patients, customers and staff. The new 120-bed Medical Centre will be configured to offer general medical and specialist services and clinical services. The Medical Centre will therefore provide the following services;

Modern laboratory facilities which will service the hospital and teaching facilities for the college
Seminar rooms/lecture theatre as an integral part of the hospital
Residential apartments to house students
Minimum of 5 – 10 staff houses to accommodate top senior staff providing primarily hospital care
Sports complex to accommodate student’s sports activities football, netball, basketball, tennis court, squash court etc.
Health and Wellness Centre where students and staff will be able attend for wellness activities. This would also be open to external use.
A Library building to facilitate knowledge management.
An Assembly hall for meetings, graduations, conferences etc.
Canteen and/or restaurant facilities for students and staff members during working time
A medium size shopping complex to ease mobility for students and staff working at the College.

In order to ensure quicker cost recovery, the support services facilities will be open for public use among individuals who will choose to register and be members. The approach will be to have facilities which can also be used for meetings/conferences by other stake holders at a cost. That will ensure cost recovery of the investment. We will also ensure to provide facilities where family medicine is enhanced to improve care of the sick within the comfort of their home (mobile home care team). A shareholder of the new Medical Centre who has already been identified will invest in solar energy to contribute to protecting the environment.

It must be noted that a number of services will be outsourced (contracted out), namely, the catering, cleaning, shopping complex (space will be leased out to interested parties).

Specialist Services

Mzuzu Medical Centre develop and create an expansive facility that will provide emergency, medical, and surgical services to the residents of the northern region and the rest of Malawi including the neighboring countries of Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique. The Consortium of Doctors and Medical Specialists anticipates that upon completion, the Hospital will feature two operating rooms, laboratories, a full-scale emergency room, an in-house pharmacy, a radiology department, general medical laboratory and a School of Medicine (Medical Training College). The total in patient space is expected to be 120 beds. By the second year of operation, the Hospital is expected to operate. The Mzuzu Medical Centre model will be designed as a specialized outpatient facility like that of the Asian Eye Institute in the Philippines

Telemedicine (eHealth, mHealth)

The Mzuzu Medical Centre (MMC) services will be aligned to Government of Malawi’s goal of achieving Universal health coverage (UHC) in the country. This means that all people in the country will have access to the health services they may need, namely, prevention, promotion, treatment, rehabilitation and palliation, without risk of financial ruin or impoverishment. The main challenges to achieve UHC in resource limited settings include lack of, adequate human resource, appropriate infrastructure and systems, and financial resources. This results in large marginalized rural poor who bear disproportionate disease burden. Significant proportion of people in communities live with not well managed multi-morbidities. The MHF recognizes that there are critical shortages of medical and health professionals in Malawi. The medical center aims to have as far a reach with its services as possible. In this regard, the Center plans to introduce telemedicine to help reach patients in remote and rural areas by providing support to the health centers through telemedicine.

The Telemedicine services will facilitate collaborating with external medical institutions and specialist for support in service delivery or consultations for highly specialized services not available at the MMC. It will also be used as platform for continuing education for training of health workers in rural communities. We believe that this service will progressively and significantly contribute toward the goal of achieving UHC in the country.

Towards Universal Health Coverage: Illness and calamity strike at any time whether the individual has an income or not. The Mzuzu Health Foundation would like to empower people around its facilities by creating an affordable community health insurance system especially for those in the rural to help the access care at the time they need it without the anxiety of how they would pay for the care.

Furthermore, the Mzuzu Medical Center will introduce a wellness center whose main focus will be to promote healthy lifestyles for clients. There will be a strong push for preventive health services for all ages.

School of Medicine

The vision of the MHF in Mzuzu city is encompassed by different people across the sector in Malawi. The plan for the execution of this project so far is: Primary focus will be to start with establishment of the School of Medicine & Health Sciences. This will help building capacity in ‘human resources for health, a critical area if supporting an effective health system in the country. Other areas of training will build on this one. As a result prosed plan is:

Construction of a hospital 120–beds minimum. This will be a specialist care hospital which will also be used as a teaching hospital
Laboratory facilities which will service the hospital and teaching facilities for the college
Construction of seminar rooms/lecture theatre, an integral part of the hospital
Residential apartments to house students
Minimum of 5-10 staff houses to accommodate top senior staff providing primarily hospital care
Sports complex to accommodate student’s sports activities football, netball, basketball, tennis court, squash court etc.
Health and Wellness centre where students and staff can attend for wellness activities. This would also be open to external use.
Construction of a Library building to facilitate knowledge management.
Construction of an Assembly hall for meetings, graduations, conferences etc.
Construction of catering facilities for students and staff members during working time
Construction of a medium size shopping complex to ease mobility for students and staff working at the College.

The idea is that the facilities should be open for public use among individuals who will choose to register and be members. This is one way of ensuring cost recovery occurs. The approach will be to have facilities which can also be used for meetings/conferences by other stake holders at a cost. That will ensure cost recovery of the investment. We will ensure also to provide facilities where family medicine is enhanced to improve care of the sick within the comfort of their home (mobile home care team). We will invest in solar energy to keep the city green and contribute to improving the environment

Research: MHF is committed to evidence-based practice and delivery of health services will be promoted at all levels. As such research will be one of the main priority for the Mzuzu Medical Center. Generation of new knowledge will be promoted in all the programs to be undertaken in the medical school and during the provision of care in the hospital.

Wellness Centre – Lifestyle Extension & Lifestyle Centre

The Mzuzu Medical Centre Wellness Centre Wing will offer comprehensive medical health evaluation facility for early detection of diseases before they manifest themselves. The early detection of disease is a goal common to everyone. In order to improve the quality and the length of life, it is always desirable to firstly prevent diseases occurring and secondly to begin curative treatment as soon as they are detected. It is important, particularly in today’s overstressed and busy life, to prevent major health events which may have catastrophic effects on your quality of life and on that of your family.

The Wellness Centre will therefore design comprehensive programmes which will aid in the timeous detection of disease. The examinations and tests will all be performed in one sitting at the centre; it will be a multi-disciplinary centre with the ability to perform all the tests under one roof. It will specialise in comprehensive medical evaluations, insurance medicals, as well as tests designed to examine specific health concerns.

A “Book of Health” programme will be designed to create a record of one’s personal health record. The record will contain a comprehensive evaluation and detailed analysis of the results of tests performed on an individual. The record will be updated annually on each subsequent examination. The programme will include a full clinical history using a comprehensive questionnaire. Tests will be carried out by practitioners and technicians, using sophisticated equipment available.

Gym facilities (with swimming pool)
Physiotherapy
Therapy
Cancer and HIV/AIDS unit
Holistic dietary consultations
Nursery School etc
Preventative medicine
Tranquil garden allowing for meditation and private prayers
Kitchen (manned by a fully qualified chef)

Current status of the project

The Consortium has acquired a 5-hactare land in Dunduzu, Mzuzu in anticipation of successful raising of funding. Consultations with the community, within which the hospital and School of Medicine is to be constructed, have been held successfully.

Once the funding has been approved and designs accepted by both parties and the relevant regulator authorities (for medical operation, investment, and technology importation and installation, and licenses and permits received and/or submitted for approval) the following will be next logical tasks;

Construction preparations
Equipment ordering and/or delivery to the project site
Hiring of people and contracts signatures
Operating policies and procedures written
Registration of relevant legal entities in Malawi

Project Environmental Impact Assessment

The Malawi Government policy on all new projects requires that an environmental impact assessment (EIA) study be carried out at the project planning stages to ensure that significant impacts on the environment are taken into consideration at the planning and implementation stages. The proposed Mzuzu Medical Centre development is located in Dunduzu, six (6) Kilometres away west of Mzuzu City (CBD), Mzimba District. The objective of this EIA is to ensure that the proposed development takes into consideration appropriate measures to mitigate any adverse impacts to the environment. It will also ensure that the related operations will be in full compliance with the EMA (1996).

MHF conducted the EIA was with a view to achieve the following goals;

Provide a description of the proposed Mzuzu Medical Centre development, Carry out an investigation on environmental baseline status of the area,

Produce an environmental impact assessment report with recommended mitigation measures and an environmental management plan outline,
The proposed Mzuzu Medical Centre facility site and the surroundings have many other facilities. The land on which the site stands is owned by the Mzuzu Foundation Trustees which measures about five (5) hectares located six (6) Kilometres west of Mzuzu City (CBD).
The proposed facility will be in character with the surroundings. It is anticipated that no significant effects will occur in the physical environment as a result of this development if prior measures are taken into consideration.

The Mzuzu Foundation Trustees, however, have a responsibility to ensure that appropriate measures are taken during the construction and operations to eliminate or minimize any of the negative effects anticipated at the proposed site and immediate neighbourhood. To address the negative impacts, this study presents the objectives of the EIA, an overview of the legislative framework, a baseline situation, anticipated impacts and related mitigation measures.

Feasibility Study

The purpose of this feasibility study was to obtain information to assess the feasibility of Mzuzu Medical Centre in Dunduzu, Mzuzu in Mzimba district and the neighbouring districts. The Feasibility Study comprises both a Market and Financial Analysis of the Project and is an essential aspect to be considered either while establishing a new medical centre or a new facility in an existing hospital or expanding the existing hospital. The goal of the survey was to determine whether the community in Malawi would support a medical facility located in Dunduzu, Mzuzu.

Being a general and specialist medical centre, there is a good potential that the entire nation would benefit from accessing the state of the art facilities in this environment. The fact that the facility will also be a host to a wellness centre and school of medicine adds to its appeal to all Malawians irrespective of where they live. The facility will also attract medical tourists either to offer their specialist medical services or as patients as a result of its environmentally-friendly designs and the high quality specialist services being offered by skilled practitioners. In summary, the feasibility study is necessary to establish;

Format suitability – whether if Tertiary – Single, Multispecialty or Multi-super Speciality
Evaluating the suitability of the proposed facility location
Identifying the right Specialities to be provided by the Mzuzu Medical Centre for the location
Understanding the Critical Gaps in the Private Healthcare provided in the planned catchment by the key factors that Doctors in the area look for from such Facility
Assess the communities willingness to pay for health care services proposed to be provided by the facility