Some of you will know that Dr. Richard and Pat Feinmann have returned to Uganda for three months to help us with the planning for our HCIV in Lira (a Health Centre 4 is a small community hospital, the equivalent to what we used to call a Cottage Hospital). Richard is keeping his Blog up to date and here’s a recent posting about our trip to Bwindi.
http://dickin2010.blogspot.com/
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In the bottom left hand corner of Uganda where Winston Churchill’s ‘Pearl of Africa’ meets Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’ is Bwindi Hospital. You can see on my picture, taken from the hospital, a little tree on the top of the hill and this is The DRC. 
We visited Bwindi with Kevin and Pamela to see a really effective hospital. What an Inspiration.
Their Vision
The staff and management collaborated together to produce this shared vision. The Hospital believes that prevention is better than cure, and that if a disease is preventable we should be out in the community trying to stop it from occurring rather than just treating cases as they come to us. However, when people do become sick, we aim to provide them with the high quality care they need.
At many other Hospitals in Uganda health workers are absent or have low morale, drugs are out of stock more often than they are present, and patients wait for hours in queues. At Bwindi Community Hospital, staff members are on duty 24 hours a day, we plan ahead so that no drug is ever out of stock, and we make sure all patients are attended to quickly. We strive to serve our patients well and to achieve excellence.
Accessibility for All is the most important part of our Vision. We believe that all people, rich or poor, have an equal right to access health care, and that those living high in the mountains need care just as much as those living next to the Hospital, which is why we send teams into the community on seven days a week.
Over the last 4 years Paul, a doctor and Vicky , a nurse both volunteers for VSO have changed the hospital from a little centre with 5-6 staff to a large hospital serving 40,000 with 60-70 staff.
Deep in the impenetrable forest of Bwindi where there are 350 species of bird, 310 butterflies (many got squashed on our windscreens!),200 trees, and 120 types of mammal including the famous 340 MOUNTAIN GORILLAS. Since many rich and famous visit the gorillas, Paul and Vicky have tapped this rich source of donors to really deliver something special.
Both treatment of HIV and also a very active prevention programme.
We found that they have virtually no malaria deaths because of their net programme to all their catchment area .
Perhaps best of all is the motherhood programme. All pregnant ladies have four antenatal visits and then because travel is so difficult in this mountainous area they are admitted 2 weeks prior to delivery. They all stay in a mothers hostel and are examined by a midwife each day. The curse of Uganda, an appallingly high maternal and neonatal death rate is largely prevented. The women are offered health education +++, including contraception advice and judging by the singing from the hostel when a new baby is borne they have a good time.
I’m sure this is a programme we will want to copy.
The power supply is from generators but a small hydroelectric scheme is nearly ready. We are a bit worried that the water channel taking the water to the turbine is going up hill?
Anyway a great visit and lots of ideas. One of them is a scheme to make the care not too reliant on donors. The population have groups called Bataka’s which collect 1000 shillings(30p) per month to pay for funerals. Running the hospital requires 12,000 shillings per month(£4). The Batakas are being asked to collect 6000 shillings from each of their members and IMG the organisation Pat and I work for will put in another 6000 shillings. These people are very poor but they understand they can’t just rely on outside donors and must take some responsibility for their own healthcare. It will work I think and hopefully then will be reproducible in Lira.
Look at Bwindi hospital website on:www.bwindihospital.com
