Challenges and Needs
1) The major challenge encountered in this trip was the ability to get medical personnel to run the clinic on a regular basis. The people are in dire need for healthcare. Efforts made to employ someone with a passion for the job yielded no result. Also, the resources to keep the staff is a big challenge. It will cost at least two to three hundred dollars to pay a resident nurse monthly and even much more to get a doctor to see patients even if it’s once a week.
2) Transportation is a great need. Amankanu is in the jungles.We need a strong vehicle that can navigate the jungles. Thankfully the roads are dry during this season, but because we do not have any form of transportation it delayed the starting and running of the clinic. The roads can be impossible during the rains. A strong 4-whel drive like a Ford F150 will be of great help and can serve as an ambulance to transport the patients to the city in case of emergency. We rode all kinds of vehicles, some very dangerous, to get to the field.
3) The cost of medication. A total of about One Thousand Dollars was spent on Medication and some medical equipment, but it was only just like the tip of the iceberg.We need to stuck the clinic with adequate medication routinely. At least Two to Three Thousand dollars for medicationeverymonth will be a good start. The people are encouraged to pay for the medication but because they are very poor, they cannot afford much. The medication is still highly subsidized.
4) The clinic needs medical equipment of every kind-examination couch, examination instruments, forceps, delivery packs, dressing packs, diagnostics machines, blood pressure cuffs, thermometers, anything that can be used in any hospital setting will be appreciated.
5) The Church holds in the clinic every service day. This is not very healthy for members. There is a Church building separate from the clinic. However, it needs roofing, plastering, flooring, doors and windows, to make it habitable. It will cost about Six Thousand dollars ($6,000) to complete the Church building. This will free the clinic to be used for the purpose for which it was built.
6) There is also a residential building for doctors and nurses. However, it needs to be completed. A total of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) will complete and furnish the residential building.
7) A deep well will be needed to provide a good source of water supply for the hospital. This will go a long way to prevent a lot of water borne diseases.
CONCLUSION
The needs may look humongous but with your continued financial support a lot has been and can be done. May the Lord multiply seed for the sowers.
Numbers 14:21
“But truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord” Numbers 14:21
“For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the water cover the sea” Habakkuk 2:14.
Join the team that will make the dream of God happen. Many Blessings!