The MMTAs charity Friends of Mufulira (FOM) tries to develop relationships with the community in the town of Mufulira, Zambia as partners.
We have much to give — but Mufulira also has much to teach. Not least, Mufulira instructs us about the effect of decisions taken in far off countries that have deep effects locally. The one that has affected Mufulira most is the management of the almost-100-year-old copper mine/smelter complex which was the original reason for the town’s existence. Local people have never had a say in its multiple changes of ownership — nor its most recent sale in December 2023 to a UAE entity by the name of IRH. Mufulira is a case history about our resource industry.
This is why we believe the medical elective programme is the correct mechanism for our interaction with Zambia. While other western world destinations and health systems are available to our electives, they still choose to travel to Zambia; and none has ever returned without praise for Zambian clinicians’ skills of observation used in diagnosis. The electives continue to say this experience will assist them in their future NHS careers.
When FOM gets involved with renovation or the purchase of equipment, those decisions are assisted by intelligence
received from the electives’ visits as well as reports from members of the Mufulira community. This does not mean we have perfect outcomes — far from it; the bureaucracy that entangles the NHS is just as prevalent in Zambia as in the UK. But metal people, used to working in all parts of the world, make delivery the only judge of success or failure.
Thanks to the contacts of our trustee, Dr Robin Gleek, FOM recently received a second annual donation of £10,000 from a UK water company working in the Copperbelt to be used exclusively for equipment purchases.
So, following work to support restoration of the Labour Ward at the Ronald Ross General Hospital (RRGH) 2023/24, the charity decided this money could be best utilised towards equipping a neonatal bed, which, if successful, would be followed by others.
Dr Gleek found a leading expert in Zambia not far from RRGH whose name is Dr Kunda Mutesu-Kapembwa — a leading local Neonatologist and Consultant Pediatrician. Her NGO, Newborn Support Zambia, visited RRGH to provide us with itemised guidance on appropriate equipment for purchase. One particular suggestion is for the supply of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machines, specifically developed for newborns; another was further training. Our electives had reported that, for want of CPAPS, newborns were dying. It is a small example to illustrate the process by which FOM reaches decisions of how and where to act.
Our second group of electives for 2025, Isaac Fazey-Koven, Maddy Gallagher, and Richard Schindler from Liverpool University are in Mufulira at the time of writing, and in my next report for The Crucible I will report on their stay and the earlier elective of Jenny Blackwood from Edinburgh University.
As always, I thank members of the MMTA for their continued support and am always available for any questions.
By Anthony Lipmann, Trustee, Friends of Mufulira
How to Donate to Friends of Mufulira
Donate to Friends of Mufulira directly HERE or via the donation button on the MMTA homepage. 100% of your donation goes to FoM.
Donate to Friends of Mufulira as you shop via Easyfundraising. Signs up at www.easyfundraising.org.uk , select Friends of Mufulira as your charity and shop through the website with participating retailers. Easyfundraising will a make a
donation to the charity with every shop.
