In Malawi, LLUH President Challenges Administrators to Be Innovative

Richard Hart, president of Loma Linda University Health, recently challenged Adventist hospital administrators, accountants, and managers from across the African continent to find innovative ways of running hospitals to get ahead of the competition.

Hart’s words were part of a recent interaction with students pursuing a Diploma in Health Administration (DHA) at Malawi Adventist University (MAU), Lakeview Campus. MAU is offering the DHA program in partnership with Loma Linda University and Adventist Health International (AHI).

The financial challenges that Adventist hospitals in Africa are facing are not unique to African nations alone, Hart said. “These challenges are all over the world, [but] administrators … are supposed to find ways on how to deal with those challenges,” he said.

Hart further advised the group of Adventist health-care leaders to desist from dependency syndrome. “As AHI, we are helping Africans in capacity building so that they can stand on their own without needing help from others,” he emphasized. He added that AHI is trying to build capacities for Adventist hospitals in Africa through training, providing health equipment and capital investment for their sustainability. Hart explained, however, that AHI is not primarily a donor organization to provide all that health institutions need.

“We are trying to build a sustainable base for institutions. Our goal is to make every institution sustainable and have its own resources to move on,” Hart emphasized.

Highlighting why AHI chose MAU to run this diploma program, Hart explained that AHI chose Malawi because it has a long history in offering Adventist health services in the world. “Adventist Health International came to Malawi because of its long history in Adventist health care. Malamulo Hospital has a long history here, and [the same applies to] Blantyre Adventist Hospital,” he said. “We were looking for a place which had a nucleus of activity and people we could build around. And this was a logical place to do that.”

Speaking earlier, AHI’s philanthropy and grant management lecturer Tomi Daniels advised students to use the donations they receive for their intended purposes. “Most of those who donate don’t have any connections with the institutions that they give their money to. They cannot even make a follow up on how their resources have been used,” Daniels explained. “However, this should not make the administrators abuse the funds. On the contrary, they should always use the resources to benefit the people they are serving.”

The DHA two-year program has attracted students from 10 African countries. Students include hospital administrators, accountants, and managers.

In a related development, MAU will hold its first graduation for DHA students at Mount Soche Hotel in Blantyre in August.

The original version of this story was posted on the Malawi Adventist University website.