The role of GPs in the world's poorest country: health care in Malawi.

Waleke Khumalo started to suffer from stomach pains in secondary school, aged 16. A relative working as a laundry attendant at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre (Malawi’s centre of finance and commerce) first took him to the outpatient clinic. Over the next 5 years he went back and forth to the clinic and in that time only once saw a doctor. ‘He was a white guy doing endoscopy,’ Waleke laughs, ‘it was then that I thought to myself, “Where are all the doctors in this country?”’ Waleke’s parents passed away when he was in primary school. Encouraged and financially supported by his aunts through primary and secondary school, he did very well, attaining excellent grades, and made a successful application to the Malawi College of Medicine — the first in his family to attend university. The fees for medical school were too much for his family to manage, though, and he resorted to borrowing for the first term, paying it back out of the stipend that medical students receive for food and books. He managed like this for 6 months when Medic to Medic, a UK charity, arrived at the College of Medicine offering student sponsorships. He applied for one and was successful.