Hospital Support Fund, Uganda

Tororo District Hospital

World Altering Medicine has expanded its reach to Uganda with the establishment of an emergency fund at Tororo District Hospital (TDH).

Tororo is on the eastern edge of Uganda, near  the border with Kenya. Tororo's District Public Hospital serves the small town of Tororo and its surrounding rural areas.  Patients who come to Tororo District Hospital are generally impoverished and have no other options for healthcare. Often, patients and their families must travel long distances on foot to reach the hospital, and their situations are quite grave once they arrive. The hospital has  approximately 200 inpatient beds, yet many additional  patients stay on the floor.  At Tororo, some of the  most common diagnoses include: malaria, HIV/AIDS, complication of pregnancy and childbirth, respiratory tract infections, malnutrition, and severe anemia.

With only three full-time physicians and a small nursing staff, Tororo District Hospital barely has enough medical professionals to meet the needs of its 200 or more patients. Supplies are limited, and families are often told that their family member may not survive because an essential medicine or piece of equipment is unavailable.  TDH does have a  functioning operating theater that is commonly used for Caesarian sections and emergent abdominal surgeries.
 
World Altering Medicine's Hospital Support Fund will assist TDH in helping to meet the growing needs of its patient population. With such limited resources and such tremendous need, a little help for TDH can go a very long way.  Just a few dollars can purchase the antibiotics or anti-malarial medication needed to save lives. 

Volunteer physicians collaborating with WAM work closely with an excellent Ugandan physician, George Welishe.  Through these doctors, WAM has identified and helped procure some of the hospital's most needed supplies:

- Oxygen concentrator for operating theatre and pediatric wards;
- Instruments for gynecologic examination and surgery;
- Intestinal clamps for abdominal surgeries;
- Autoclave equipment - to clean and sterilize the surgical instruments;
- Well functioning scale for pediatric malnutrition ward; and
- Hepatitis B vaccination for hospital staff.

In addition to the Hospital Support Fund, volunteer doctors collaborating with World Alerting Medicine have started a Patient Fund to help support the treatment of patients who are destitute and present with disabling or life-threatening illnesses.  Veronica Ades, a volunteer physican currently in Uganda, is helping identify the hospital's pressing needs as well as distribute supplies purchased with WAM donations. 

Learn more about Veronica's work and what we have already accomplished at   Tororo District Hospital at http://www.veronica-wanderlust.blogspot.com/