EMERGENCY: Inside the centre where one mum dies giving birth each week

THE next time you complain about conditions in your local NHS hospital, take comfort from the fact that they are nowhere near as bad as those in Lilongwe's Bottom maternity.

More than one visitor has said it is like something out of a horror B movie.

One Scots midwife has spoken of the indescribable' smell, the open sewers at the rear of the building, the endless queues of mums-to-be.

Linda McDonald, who raised some £100,000 for an STV Malawi appeal through the sale of a recipe book, has also spoken of photographs of dead babies, wrapped in their mother's dresses, lying in rancid hospital sluice.

Others have highlighted the lack of drugs, the grotesque overcrowding and unsanitary conditions, even of one mum-to-be occupying a bed while another lies beneath the bed.

But now two new maternity hospitals will be built in a combined charitable effort that involves Scots entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter.

Dr Tarek Meguid, a German/ Egyptian obstetrician at Bottom, said: "It is totally understaffed, and the facility itself is not okay," he added. "Sir Tom has been here personally with his wife and son and we are really very grateful that he is supporting us."

The doctor said that 12,000 babies were delivered at Bottom every year, meaning an average of 35 in each 24-hour period.

"Sometimes we have as many as 60 in 24 hours, but we only have two shifts in the labour room.

"The midwife-patient ratio is about one in 10, so it's very possible that you have to attend to two, three or four women at the same time and deliver at the same time, which is physically impossible.

"We also have five clinical officers and three consultants at the moment. We are heavily understaffed."

He said patients have absolutely no privacy - "women do not deliver with their guardian or partner in attendance, because it is physically impossible".

"Malawi has the highest maternal mortality ratio in the world of all countries not at war or just coming out of armed conflict.

"We have one dead woman a week here. Most of the women who die come here very late when they already have problems and we can't do anything to help them.

"Countywide, it is much higher. But it's a desperate situation, and I think that inspired Sir Tom to help. Being a parent, he was able to relate to the situation."

Of the future, Dr Tarek said: "The idea is that two maternity hospitals will be built in place of this one - one in Kamuza Central Hospital, which will cater for something like 6000 deliveries."

That hospital will be called the Ethel Mutharika maternity wing, named after the Malawian President's late wife.

The total build cost including electrical work is £2.7million, with funds being contributed by the STV Malawi appeal and the Children's Investment Fund Foundation, and the shortfall being met by the Hunter Foundation.

The Hunter Foundation is also project-managing the wing under the Clinton-Hunter Development Initiative.

The replacement Bottom Hospital is being built by the Rose Foundation, an Irish charity.

Dr Tarek added: "The building work has just started and the timeline is that it should be finished in December next year."

We're so grateful to Scots council workers who built us HIV clinic

FOR two weeks workers from Glasgow City Council sweltered under the Malawian sun, working in the grounds of Chikwawa district hospital.

But their labours were worth it because at the finish the hospital had been given a new HIV/Aids clinic and an office extension.

Chikwawa is an hour's drive from Blantyre and the hospital has only basic services and crowded wards.

In September, staff from Glasgow's City Building department, including Alan Burns, worked to build the HIV/Aids clinic and an office extension costing about £250,000.

It was part of a comprehensive effort masterminded by the Lord Provost and International Office back in Glasgow.

At the same time, computer staff from the corporate and education services departments were supplying and installing computers in education training centres in Blantyre and other venues.

The building of the HIV/AIDS clinic gave patients some much-needed privacy and the staff more room to operate and to store confidential records.

A total of 32% of Malawi's urban population, and 15% of its rural population, live with HIV/Aids.

Life-saving antiretroviral (ARV) drugs are distributed from here. There are some 35 new ARV patients every month and more than 1000 patients on the ARV drugs within the Chikwawa district.

During the two-week work by Glasgow staff, the volunteers built up a rapport with their Malawian counterparts, sharing their beer with them and, on the final night, taking them and their partners out for a meal.

As they departed, the Glasgow men gave tools and clothing to the local workers. One man even gave away his trainers, leaving him without shoes for the journey home.

"Thank you, Glasgow," said one of the smiling hospital staff.

Elsewhere at Chikwawa, other items donated by Glasgow included a large fridge-freezer in the kitchen.

The last word goes to Alex Bulla, 57, who still marvels that the clinic and the extension went up so quickly.

Alex, senior maintenance supervisor responsible for hospitals and other health units in Chikwawa district, said: "They did a very nice job - and they are very hard-working people to finish it all within two weeks.

"We admired what they did for us."