Dr. Charles Mwansambo is no stranger to Malawi’s public health sector having served as Secretary for Health and retired in 2023 following a distinguished public service career.
He also served as Consultant Paediatrician and Head of Department at the Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe until August 2010 when he moved to the Ministry of Health Headquarters.
A renowned UK trained Paediatrician; he is a Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and also a member of the Every Newborn Action Plan Global Management Team.
Dr. Mwansambo is a recipient of the 2022 Hillman Olness Award by the American Academy of Paediatrics in recognition of his lifetime service and lasting contribution to Global Child Health.
Currently, he is the Director for the newly opened Lilongwe Family Health Clinic, a private practice offering paediatric specialist services, general medical consultations for all ages, and a laboratory for different types of diagnostics.
During the opening of the Clinic, he was showered with praises from Minister of Heath Khumbize Chiponda for his exceptional service to the nation whilst acknowledging Mwansambo’s selfless and hardworking spirit in serving Malawians.
She noted that despite retiring from the civil service, he was still going to KCH’s Pediatric department to do ward rounds for free, which was also the case when was PS for Health.
Chiponda further hailed the specialist’ contributions which she said made her work at the Ministry easy amidst the various health crises Malawi faced.
“Dr. Mwansambo was there during Malawi’s health crises including the worst COVID-19 pandemic which saw Malawi and the whole world quite unprepared on what direction to take, but PS Mwansambo remained the most collected and calm person in the Ministry providing direction on how we should tackle the pandemic”.
As a media practitioner with interest in health reporting, I’ve had the privilege of being granted interviews with him on quite a myriad occasions and despite his busy schedules, he always spared time for journalists even when it was apparent he had other pressing matters to attend to at the Ministry.
To many, the veteran medical practitioner is regarded as a great son of the soil; humility personified and this was evident during the opening of the clinic where he took a back seat role as it was his son Dr. Charles Mwansambo Jr. who made welcoming remarks to the audience present during the event.
His wife Dr. Andrina, the Co-Director described the occasion as a special one for the Mwansambo’s and praised God for having turned their dream into reality.
I managed to speak with him on some operational issues of the clinic as the facility will be accepting patient’s walk-ins for general medical consultations and a preference for appointments on pediatrics.
He was quick to clarify that this is because he doesn’t want patients waiting for too long adding some would have visited other clinics and seeking a specialist service and they would appreciate if they are alerted in advance.
“Nobody is sent back when they come they’ll be seen, but it’s always nice to avoid you waiting for too long when you come because you don’t know how many others will be there so it’s nice so that you’re given a time so your child is seen immediately.
“We’ll see how the patient flow goes; if there’s need to bring in more human beings, more support then we’ll do that. If we’re to bring more GP’s or more paedtrician colleagues we’ll work on that” he explained
Mwansambo is a member of the Advisory Council of the African Network for the Care of Children and Adolescents (ANECCA); Immediate past Chairperson, Board of Trustees of the Lighthouse HIV/AIDS Trust, Lilongwe, Malawi; and was member of the Commonwealth Advisory Committee on Health (CACH) from 2019 to 2023.
