Ophthalmology in Malawi

It is harder to talk about ophthalmology in malawi and omit Dr Chirambo's name.but the fact is that he is gone and has left us with very high expectations.Chirambo groomed the 3 of us into different subspecialisation areas of ophthalmogy;myself now a public health ophthalmologist,my boss a paediatric ophthalmologist and the pastor,now a vitreoretinal surgeon.we have also increased the number of general ophthalmologist to 5.the fact is that Chirambo paved the way for us,and we have to follow his footsteps.i used to wonder why he used to be in the office by 7.00am everymorning,but now i am doing the same thing.its called responsibilty

Death Announcement: Dr Moses Chirambo, Ophthalmologist & Minister of Health Malawi

It is with sadness that I announce the death of Dr Moses Chirambo, the first Malawian Ophthalmologist, and and a well known public health Ophthalmologist in the International ophthalmology sector .He died in South Africa yesterday on Saturday 14th August 2010 from an anesthetist related cardiac complication while undergoing Prostate removal surgery. See my previous blogs about him and his pcitures.
Dr Chirambo actively retired from Ophthalmology in 2008 when he was appointed Minister of Health and Member of Parliament for Malawi.
In 1983 , he established the Southern Africa Development corporation (SADC) school of Ophthalmology in Lilongwe, Malawi supported by Sight Savers International ; this school has trained over 500 clinical officers and cataract surgeons (midlevel eye personnel )from all over SADC countries and beyond ; and now several countries including Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia have started their own training programmes
In 1995, Chirambo got an International ward from the American Academy and IAPB for his fight in blindness; and continued to get several awards (too many to mention). He was a Regional advisor for Sight Savers International for a long time.
Between 1983 and 1987, Dr Chirambo, Professor Johnson Gordon and many other colleagues conducted the first population based childhood blindness survey on vitamin A & Xerophthalmia studies in Africa.
For those who knew Chirambo, he will be missed by many.

Join us in Malawi in morning this great achiever in Public Health ophthalmology & epidemiology.want to know more about him? look here

more Information Chirambo

Its a sad day
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Eye specialists and Politics do not go together. We are here for the Blind

Welcome back Prof though you are still an honourable MP:

After a few months of being minister of Health ,I am told the Professor(Prof Chirambo, the eye specialist has been dropped by the other profffesor (our President)but Prof remains a member of parliament.Well some of us knew that African politics and too many brains in one place do not go together ,so it’s not strange that people like him do not last (speculate why).


I am proposing him to be VISION2020 ambassadordor to share success stories of VISION2020 activities in Malawi, and myself to be the deputy ambassodor (since he is sitting in the middle in the pcture and myself on one end).

Should such a genius have joined politics in the first place? What do you think?

Despite nepotism , i will contune ensuring that Malawian including ones from Thyolo have access to good quality eye care .

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if you have a problem with being non partisan in service delivery.

Good Retirement for the Minister of Health in Malawi

As per my prediction on the earlier blog, indeed Prof Moses Chirambo, after retiring as the first Malawian Ophthalmologist is now not only Member of Parliament but also the Minister of Health in Malawi.
Join me in congratulating him in his job as he continues to be my boss.

Well, no one should ever doubt that he will not perform for the ministry of Health; He did wonders in Eye care, am confident he will do the same.
Read his profile on my earlier blog and you will understand we need such people in Malawi .The link is

http://khumbokalua.blogspot.com/2009/05/greatest-and-first-malawian-eye-doctor.html

In one of the pictures I am just next to him, he is the one with the flash disc on hi neck.This picture was taken was in 2004 when we had a refresher course for Ophthalmic clinical officers in Mangochi.

If you are still in doubt or just want to comment

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Greatest and first Malawian Eye doctor joins politics

Prof Moses Chirambo, the first Malawian Ophthalmologist is now a Malawian member of parliament and minister of Health.When I first heard that he was campaigning for a seat in Parliament; I thought it was a joke. I have always known him as a great teacher, eye doctor ,mentor and father and founder of Ophthalmology in Malawi .Trained as an ophthalmologist as Hadassah University in Israel in the early 70’s, Prof Chirambo started making a name in 1972 when he started conducting outreach eye camps all over Malawi .In 1983 , he established the SADC school of Ophthalmology in Lilongwe supported by Sight Savers International ; this school has trained over 500 eye personnel from all over SADC countries and beyond ; and now several countries including Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia have started their own training programmes using the Malawi model with Prof Chirambo helping the in designing the curriculum. In 1993, under the initiative of the Prof , the 60 bed Lions Sight first eye hospital was built and opened up in Lilongwe .In 1995, Chirambo got an International ward from the American Academy for his fight in blindness; and continued to get several awards (too many to mention). He was instrumental in teaching medical students from Malawi in Lilongwe and when I initially met him as a student in 1995 I knew I would specialise in Ophthalmology. Sight Savers Projects in Malawi flourished under his leadership as a Regional advisor and we have several buses and vehicles for outreach brought under his initiative.
Prof Chirambo was instrumental in establishing other Lions eye hospitals in Mzuzu , Blantyre and Zomba. He enjoyed doing surgery, and was very fast in theatre.
Later on when we become colleagues, we socialised every time we went for outreach camps, and he enjoyed a beer after work. I remember in 2005, we operated on 120 patients with cataract within 3 days in Mzimba District. His last assignment was coordinating the establishment of school of Optometry at Mzuzu University in the Northern Region of Malawi, and this school which started in 2008 with 5 international students has already started attracting International attention. He was honoured by the President at Mzuzu University as one of the greatest medical academic achievers in Malawi.
Prof Chirambo has published extensively International and has several articles on eye care in Malawi, and his work is quoted by most authors taking about eye care in developing countries. If you go to any University eye department in the SADC countries and say you are from Malawi, you will be asked about how Dr Moses Chirambo is? He is mostly remembered for his alcoholic working standards; being in hospital as early as 7am and leaving 8pm every day.

I have had several good times and taken pictures with him for my memories, and as he retires from the eye care sector and goes into politics I will always remember him as a great mentor. If it wasn’t for him, I would not be the community Eye Specialist I am today. But I will always wonder a man who has achieved more than a lot would want to join politics?
Are you inpired?
Should such a genius be in politics? Should I follow him? What do you think?

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