Hospital News

In the last news letter we reported that the container from England had arrived safely and the standby generator and laundry driers had been unloaded without incident. The ability of the workers at the hospital to move large pieces of equipment without the use of heavy lifting gear always surprises me. The commissioning of the dryers did not cause Matt and Rukundo too many problems but getting the generator to work so that it automatically started 15 seconds after the power failed and to switch off after a similar period when the power came back on was more of a problem. With the help of an engineer from Kigali who had experience of generators it was eventually successfully installed.

The bad news is that two weeks after all the work on the generator was completed there was a massive lightening strike which hit just a few feet above the hospital restaurant which produced a crater 18 inches deep. The net result was the control panel for the generator was fried together with the new X ray machine, lab equipment and the control panel for one of the washing machines. The estimated cost of the damage to the hospital equipment is £15,000 (US$23,250).

A technician came and repaired the X ray at a cost of £2500 (US$3900) but as of today the video display and printer for the X ray machine are still inoperable because the funds needed for the job are not available. They have had to go back to wet developing of X ray films.

The spare parts for the generator and the washer were ordered via the web and Don Leeming was persuaded to jump on a plane and bring them to Rwanda. If we had sent them by air freight it would have meant major delays, particularly clearing customs. By doing it this way the parts got to the hospital while there was someone available to install them. The good news is that the washer and the generator are both fully working.

The adverse weather that Kibogora has been suffering has had a second disastrous result. The very heavy rain has caused a land slip just beyond the hospital boundary fence close to the new pharmacy/isolation unit and the old private wards. There has been a very real concern that any further rains could cause more slippage resulting in damage to the foundations of the new building. Engineers have inspected the area and taken core samples from the bank and have recommended the installation of a retaining structure and stabilising work including additional drainage. The cost of this is estimated at around £90,000(US$140,000). Fortunately the Rwandan Government, through the ministry of health have accepted responsibility and will pay for the repairs. We pray that this will not be subject to the usual long delays that government projects can suffer as we don’t want to risk further erosion with the next rainy season.

As you may know Rwanda has joined the British Commonwealth of Nations, only the second country to join which has never been a British colony. They have also joined the East African Free Trade block which comprises Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The Government has begun the process of changing from French to English as the primary foreign language. It is intended that all Government business is to be conducted in English, all schools and universities will teach in English in the very near future. In future the hospital will need to make all official reports in English and the medical staff will be expected to be able to speak English. This is a major project particularly when the schools lack English text books and most of the teachers only have rudimentary English. If anyone wants to go to Rwanda and teach English now would be a good time.