Gte in Zambia

Working in the context of the charity work organised by the diocese of Milan, the Office of Pastoral Work is involved in running a hospital in Zambia, in Southern Africa. The hospital is situated at Chirundu, on the left bank of the Zambesi River about 80 km from the Kariba Dam and 150 km from the capital, Lusaka. The hospital is called Mtendere Mission Hospital (Peace Hospital )

At the beginning of the 'seventies the evidence of poor health conditions prevailing among the population led to the decision to create a health structure in the Zambesi Valley, a region whose climatic conditions and poverty demanded a suitable health care response.

At first small dispensary was set up, which gradually expanded to become a hospital - albeit of modest dimensions - which was officially opened on 22 July 1970.

More recently following the end of the apartheid regime and therefore of economic sanctions against South Africa, Chirundu became the most frequently visited place along the border with Zambia, the second busiest in the whole of Africa. It has become the most important commercial link for South African goods of whatever type, or via South Africa, reach Zambia and the Congo, Tanzania, Malawi, Kenya and the countries of the Great Lakes.

As often happens in the Third World, this chaotic and sudden concentration of economic activity provoked a migration of the poorest section of the population.

These events prompted the Diocese of Milan to upgrade the hospital facilities, which were faced by a constantly growing volume of work, and offer improved professional services.

It was in this context that in May 1999 Gte was invited to take up this unusual contract. And after a preliminary visit work started on the restructuring and enlargement planned and coordinated by the resident surgeon, Mr. Paolo Marelli. This missionary doctor who as far back as 1978 was involved in missionary work, first with a project supported by a group of independent voluntary workers from Cantù in northern Italy recognized by the ONG and based in Burundi, now, benefiting from that earlier experience, has dedicated himself to the important initiative of enlarging and reorganizing the hospital in Chirundu.

In September of 1999, with the arrival of all the necessary materials and equipment necessary for our work, Gte experienced a new type of "site" characterized by a complete absence of formal and procedural requirements regarding building regulations, but suffused with a powerful human desire felt by the local population and our various local colleagues: work was the rule from dawn to dusk.

Even before leaving we had been told that the success of our project would depend a lot on the attitude with which each of our jobs was performed, above all our treatment of the local people, transmitting as much as possible of our technical knowledge, perhaps departing from the customary European was of working, bursting with efficiency, complicated technology and profit consciousness.

The restructuring work, completed in November 2003, included among other things:

· a new operating theatre block

· un nuovo reparto di medicina,

· a new medical department

· a new department of surgery, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology

· a new first aid department

· equipping the outpatients department with radiology, endoscopy and ecography services.

· a new electrical distribution system for the hospital section

· a new medical gas distribution system

· a new water circulation system including the installation of sand filters

· a new digital cable system ( data and telephone )

· new additional water pipelines for the adjacent nurses residence, orphanage and school.

Mtendere Hospital with its 145 beds, currently serves a population of more than fifty thousand. Three doctors, four sisters, thirty two paramedics and thirty orderlies provide the staff of the hospital which operates under the supervision of the Archivescoval Commission for the hospital at Chirundu.

With 3.300 in-patients a year, almost ten thousand out-patient consultations and eight thousand vaccinations, the hospital at Chirundu plays a central role in a country where cuts in health spending are so severe as to deny even the most basic assistance to the vast mass of the population, whose life expectancy does not exceed 45 years and where malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS affect an ever greater proportion of the inhabitants.

An important initiative in the service of the local people, but above all one that provides a stimulus for them to learn and train for work in the health sector themselves.

Today it is Gte's periodic and carefully scheduled presence which guarantees the maintenance and expertise necessary for the facility to work well. Tomorrow...

All those who have worked with us on this project have come away with an experience which is very special and unforgettable.

... something more than just of insect bites ...