Visit to a local health centre

There was a volunteer from Europe visiting and she wanted to see a Health Centre so I hopped into the van as well and went with her!

It was about a one hour drive away from Gondar Hospital into the countryside (Past Azezo and past the turning to the airport). The asphalt road ran out so then it was along very bumpy track.

Antenatal clinic

If there were any complications then the patients from here would be sent to Gondar Hospital - along said dirt road - either in the health centre ambulance or in the Red Cross one or Hospital one.

They said they had one or two deliveries everyday but there was no-one there when we visited. It was super clean!

 For the neonatal resuscitation

The health centre was staffed by 2 midwives and then there were 7 other nurses who did different clinics etc - the head midwife said he would love more training for the nurses as there were times that the midwives were not at work so the nurses cared for the pregnant ladies.

The autoclave

The smallest ambulance you ever may see!! They say it attaches onto the Bajaj (tuktuk) - would not fancy it though along the bumpy road - being in a 4x4 was bad enough! 

The Health Centre













The Delivery Suite at the Health Centre

The Delivery Suite

The conditions on Delivery Suite are hard - there are often women sleeping on mattresses on the floor and I feel awful when you have to literally step over them when doing the ward rounds.


It is quite unclean but it is so hard to keep clean with an uneven concrete type of floor as dirt just gets in the cracks. We have just swapped the wards around so actually this is now the post natal ward and the Delivery suite has a nice new floor and is much cleaner and brighter! Yeh! And sometime (supposedly June) there will be the new hospital!!

If a patient needs any drugs then the family member is given the prescription and goes to the hospital pharmacy to buy them - if they are not available in the hospital they have to go out to one of the private pharmacies to find them. This is the same if they need a Caesarean Section - the relative is given a full list including catheter, cannula, antibiotics, a number of sterile gloves, painkillers. Obviously if there is an emergency then they do have some spares but these would generally be replaced afterwards. If the patient cannot pay or does not have any attendants then again there are some spares and there are social workers who can sort out the finances. 

There is very little privacy and certainly no single rooms! The area where the women deliver has 3 couches (4 now we have moved) but there is no screen between them. The women deliver alone with no relatives with them. Spinals are given for Caesarean sections but not for much else...