Interested in coming to serve?
There are 2 ways to come and serve at Mukinge:
- Through SIM (Serving in mission):
- Through WMM (World Medical Mission): this route is for physicians and dentists only
you can contact Dana Foster (Assistant Placement Director)
World Medical Mission
Samaritans Purse
PO Box 3000
Boone, NC 28607
Tel: (828) 278-1279
Fax :(828) 266-1055
Email:
www.samaritanspurse.org/wmm
Interested in projects/donations?
Continuing Staff Education
Mukinge continues to train local staff to meet critical needs in the areas of maintenance,
business accounting, and various medical professional skills. As individuals qualify for ongoing education, we raise support to help them meet the costs of that education in return for continued commitment to work at the hospital. We currently have training opportunities identified for members of the business office, lab technician, pharmacy, medical licentiate, medical school for physician training, construction, and midwifery and other advanced nursing degrees. We continue to need support to help meet the ongoing costs of these educational programs for specific individuals to benefit the hospital. Donations to the education project can be made to SIM (www.sim.org, project ZM-87344). Individuals will be sponsored according to hospital priorities for staffing as funds are available.
Things To Bring/Send
Selected donated supplies are a great help to us. Please note that Zambia has a very strict policy about expired medications and generally we are required to throw out any medicines that are past their expiry date. There are a few exceptions to this rule, but they are rare.
What Types Of Supplies Are "Worth" The Cost To Bring?
The following types of items are generally quite helpful, and worth the cost to transport to Zambia (considering the needs of the hospital, the costs of shipping, and the availability of certain supplies in Zambia currently):
- Newer generation oral antibiotics
- Newer generation IV antibiotics
- Dermatome blades for Humby knife
- Bandaging materials - especially fiberglass and plaster casting materials, ACE bandages, Kerlix or rolled gauze, cast padding and stockinettes, medical tape
- IV cannulas, all sizes
- Mercury thermometers
- Anesthesia drugs, esp fancier non-depolarizing meds like rocuronium. Pressors and cardiovascular drugs like ephedrine, dopamine, labetalol, diltiazem, etc.
- Surgical gloves in the common sizes 7-8.0
- Skin staplers
- Crutches and walkers if you can manage them
- Suture materials - MAP international has a fantastic program in combination with
Ethicon where for $70 you get two huge boxes of sutures that are very useful in the
African setting. Check with http://www.map.org/site/PageServer. We've had good success with this and recommend it if you want to bring sutures. Generally, good sutures to bring to the hospital are large chromic,
Vicryl, and Nylon sutures on large-bodied needles. We can resterilize as needed.
- We often are needing specific equipment as well as our stuff breaks down, so if you can manage larger items and can help, let us know.
What Types Of Supplies Are Generally Not "Worth" The Cost To Bring?
We can get almost all of the WHO essential medication formulary in country
(http://www.healthnet.org/essential-links/), many times for free from the
Zambian government, so those medications are usually cheaper to purchase in
country than to ship from overseas. Basic dressing supplies such as 4x4's and
band-aids are usually not helpful.
What To Do To Make Sure It Gets Here!
Suitcases are less likely to be searched than boxes coming through customs.
Donated medical supplies for use in a charity setting should come through without customs being due. You don't have to stop at customs, but most of the time they will ask you to stop and will search your bags. If you are asked for customs fees, this is probably an error, although the rules are subject to change at any time. It's a good idea to bring some documentation, however:
- Be sure to bring in hand two copies of a 'cover letter' from someone identified as the donor, stating that the drugs are "donated for use at Mukinge Hospital, a Level 2 hospital in Northwestern Province." The more official-looking the letter is, the better. Put one copy in the bag with the stuff, and carry one copy with you. Please feel free to name drop at customs if they are giving you a hard time; 'Mukinge Hospital', 'Jairos Fumpa' (the executive director), 'Dr. Foulkes', and so forth.
- Please be sure that the value of ALL of the donated items are individually listed somewhere. We sometimes get hung up at customs because the band-aids weren't costed, but the rest of the list was!
- If they want to keep the luggage for inspection, this is okay, as long as you get a receipt. We can collect them once customs is finished (sometimes up to a few weeks).
If anything is to be shipped separately (i.e. not coming with you on the plane) and a clearing agent has to be declared, please request "DHL Danzas" as the clearing agent.
Food Supplementation
Kasempa province suffers from severe problems with malnutrition due to poor farming practices and impoverished soil. Mukinge provides three meals/day for all inpatients. In addition, we make our own high energy supplementations and malnutrition food for small children who are suffering from malnutrition. We have recently completed a renovation of the staff of kitchen to help us continue to emphasis the importance of good nutrition to our patients. Mukinge also provides infant formula for orphans, when funds allow. However, we continue to need ongoing funding to ensure that these programs are sustained.
Food for children with malnutrition
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Formula for orphans
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Hospital Infrastructure
Mukinge has continued to struggle as the infrastructure of the hospital deteriorates.
We are currently involving local communities to help us with cleaning and painting
the hospital to encourage local support of the hospital. We continue to have needs to
rehabilitate our water system, a project which is estimated at close to $100,000 USD.
We are also trying to expand the available staff housing to allow us to recruit and
retain more clinical staff. We have been successful in the past year in securing
funds to rehabilitate three staff houses in addition to securing funds for the
construction of a four-plex apartment complex. We will continue to need help in
raising funds for capital projects in the future.
Renovations in progress
Medical Equipment
Mukinge remains committed to bringing medical care out to the local community.
We are expanding our mobile community outreach efforts and continue to look for
ways to reach people via motorbike, bicycle, or 4x4. We are currently raising
funds to purchase an anesthetic machine and ventilator appropriate for our hospital
setting (www.glostavent.com/faqs.html ).
We also continue to need to purchase some of our medical equipment and supplies
from overseas since some vital medications are not available in country.
With the advent of reliable electrical services to the hospital, we have begun to
capitalize on this opportunity to modernize our health care and make more services available. We continue to need overseas support in the areas of biomedical maintenance, purchase of new equipment, and on-site training of the use and care of new technologies.
An oxygen concentrator being used for 4 patients.
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