Life in all its fullness...

Days remain full and stimulating with unexpected twists... for example Hanna went to change the filters on the new oxygen concentrators... all fine until she arrived in surgical ward and was told one machine was not needed at the moment so had been stored carefully in a cupboard... there it was with its new dustcover in place but when she removed the cover out jumped a rat that had eaten half the filter to start making a nest!!! not what we had planned for... seems there is a problem in the old buildings with rats and people have got used to it.  However, we haven't so the rats are in for some challenges in the not too distant future as we seek to remove them.

Hanna has also been busy helping Moses sort out guest and visitor accommodation and arrangements and this includes sorting out the painting of the rooms in the house to which we will move that are being switched to a guest accommodation role.

Just to vary her day, she was summoned to the lab with a message that "Dr Ian had said she could give blood!"  A 7 year old had been admitted to the Children's ward with a haemoglobin of only 3.8 [should be at least 12] due to malaria.  Her blood group was A negative and the hospital did not have any in the blood bank.  The regional blood centre is in Mbarara about 80 miles away and it would have taken forever to get any so as, conveniently, Hanna is O Neg, she was called to donate.  Happily the child is looking much better today.

Ian has been busy with a mix of clinical and management tasks ranging from finance, buildings, interviews and meetings with visitors.  Encouraging progress in some areas but humanly the task is daunting, as we knew, and as a team we need wisdom to know the priorities.  We have visiting radiographers and ultrasonographer from Chester, doctors from Reading and a retired anaesthetist and electrical engineer from Australia here at the moment for time spans varying from 2 nights to 2 weeks.  Then expecting a big group of secondary school pupils from Dublin with four teachers, they are visiting a local school and are here for about 5 nights in a group of 22.  They will be pleased to find some others from Ireland here at present helping with physiotherapy.

So we enjoy the mix of visitors who come through Kisiizi - quite amazing really when you see how small it is and how remote [see the link to Google Earth...] - we used to tell people that if you flew over Kisiizi and blinked you would miss it and yet this little place God called into being at the head of a valley has had an impact reaching around the globe...

Kisiizi Health Insurance Scheme

One thing that has surprised us this visit is the number of patients registered with the Kisiizi Health Insurance scheme - a staggering figure of more than 37,000!  This makes us the largest scheme in the country by a big margin and either the largest or second largest in East Africa apparently...

Patients join in various sized groups, paying a premium that is remarkably low by western standards - equivalent to only about £4 a year!  The advantage is not only financial to the patient if they become ill but also means people are much more likely to present promptly with symptoms rather than procrastinating or buying a few tablets from a market or going to a traditional healer where interventions may be damaging in some cases...

From the hospital point of view it is a benefit that these patients are sure to pay their bills as the Scheme reimburses Kisiizi for its treatment.

So now we hope to utilise the scheme more for health prevention teaching and we are awaiting the outcome of a new bid for support for a 30 month community programme to improve mother and child health particularly.

We arrived in Kisiizi 2 weeks ago today after a smooth trip via terminal 5 Heathrow courtesy of BA [chosen as we had 3 bags of luggage each].  Spent a night in Matoke Inn, the AIM guesthouse, and had the happy opportunity to meet up with old friends Irene Kambonesa and later Edward & Enid Turitwenka.

On the journey down to Kisiizi we stopped off in Mbarara to visit Sister Esther Kobusingye who recently retired and lives very conveniently close to the main road.

We had a warm welcome on arrival here and have spent these first two weeks working through administration issues with Dr Tonny Tumwesigye, outgoing Medical Superintendent, who left this morning.

Hanna has been organising arrangements for a new batch of much-needed oxygen concentrators donated by Kisiizi Partners.  Ian has done some paediatrics, mainly neonatal rounds.  Transfused a very preterm baby last night, only weighs 780 grams, she looks much better this morning...

Thanks for all the messages of support and the prayers which are much appreciated.  The internet was off almost the whole of the first week or so but now it is improving so we hope to be in touch more often.