Clinical Services

PREAMBLE:

The Clinical Directorate is one of the twelve main directorates in the Ministry of Health.  Other Directorates are:

·        Health Technical Support Services

·        Preventive Health Services

·        Nursing and Midwifery Services

·        Planning and Policy Development

·        Human Resource Management and Development

·        Finance

·        Administration

·        HIV/AIDS

·        Reproductive Health

·        Quality Management

·        Nutrition and HIV/AIDS

Mission

To provide technical leadership and advice on delivery of high quality clinical services in the country

Vision

Comprehensive and high quality clinical services accessible by all Malawians.

Broadly the Directorate is responsible for

i)  Formulating (setting), promoting, enforcing and monitoring policies, standards, guidelines and protocols required for delivery of high quality clinical services.

ii)  Managing the External Patient Referral Program

iii)  Leading and coordinating the national response to Non Communicable Diseases including mental health problems.

iv) Leading and guiding on national delivery of clinical nutrition/dietetic services.

v)  Guiding and supporting the activities of traditional practitioners through their umbrella organisation MTHUO (Malawi Traditional Healers Umbrella Organisation)’

Structure of the Directorate:

The Directorate has four sections namely

I)  Curative

II)  Nutrition (clinical)

III) Non Communicable Diseases and Mental Health

IV) Medical Rehabilitation Services

Some of the selected major milestones for the Clinical Directorate:

i)  Malawi Standard Treatment Guidelines, 5th edition 2015.

ii)  National Alcohol Policy: adopted by Cabinet, Jan 2017

iii) CMAM (Community Based Management of Acute Malnutrition) Guidelines, 2016

iv) National  Guidelines on Nutrition Care, Support and Treatment for Adolescents and Adults, 2014 (2nd edition)

v) Manual of the Criteria for Referral of Patients Abroad, 3rd Edition 2010.

vi) Guidelines for the Clinical Use of Blood and Blood products, 2012.

vii) Minimum Standards of Clinical Services for Malawi, 1st Edition 2013.

viii) Minimum incentive Package for Ministry of Health employed clinical specialists

ix)  Pre-hospital Care Services/Emergency Medical Services- World Bank supported pilot project.

x)   Draft Traditional Medicine Policy, 2009

Challenges:

The major challenges for the Directorate and indeed the entire public health care delivery system are:

i)  Inadequate basic and specialised pieces of medical equipment

ii)  Inadequate medicines and medical supplies

iii)  Inadequate human resources for health 

All these have a bearing on delivery of high quality health services including clinical services.

Priorities for 2017/18

·  Advocacy for the establishment of centres of clinical excellence in the fields of cancer, eye and heart conditions (in designated Central Hospitals),

·  Finalise the development of the Directorate’s Strategic Plan (2017-22),

·  Spearhead the integration of nutrition commodities into the national supply chain (through the Central Medical Stores Trust),

·  Coordinate the smooth incorporation of dieticians into the clinical service domain,

·  Finalisation of the Traditional Medicine Policy,

·  Develop an Action Plan for the operationalization of the National Alcohol Policy (2017).