Construction of the attendants shelter
2009 was the first year of charitable busines for Friends of Kumi Hospital and during this year the charity was able to embark on a construction project for the hospital. An attendants shelter had long been identified by the hospital asa requirement of high priority.
Patients in Uganda have to take attendants to hospital with them to deal with their daily needs of feeding and washing, due to lack of hospital staff. This means that the attendants sleep next to or under the bed of hte patient (often there are several attendants per patient) and keep by the patient's bed the cooking and washing equipment. During the frequent showers in the wet season many of the attendants at Kumi Hospital take shelter in the surgical ward, bringing in all their belongings as well. This makes it extremely difficult to keep the ward clean and manage infection control due to the problems of overcrowding.
In Jul 2009, a team of 14 military personnel from the British Army, Royal Air Force and Navy spent 2 weeks assisting a local construction team in the building of the shelter, after helping raise the money for the materials and labour costs, through Friends of Kumi Hospital. The shelter is now completed and is in use. An audit is due to take place to re-evaluate the post operative infection rates in the surgical ward.
There are a number of other achievable infrastructure requirements around Kumi Hospital, in particular a border fence which needs constructing. If you would like to help fundraise for a project please see the details on the contacts page to let us know.
Considering that over 38% of the population lives below the poverty line (1US$/day), health could be one of those factors that are actually driving people into poverty. The government spends only 7.2% of the total budget on health, despite making a commitment to spend 15% of its total budget. With the health sector running at half the expected budget, it will be next to impossible to talk about quality health care in Uganda.
© 2012 friendsofkumihospital.org
Registered Charity No: 1126962