Dear Family and Friends,
Many things are happening here at Mbingo so we thought it good to update you on some of them.
A major advance for the hospital is the installation of a new digital x-ray system. This was completed three weeks ago with the help of volunteer Bernie Hesmert who upgraded our computer network to handle the new system. Shortly after this was completed, staff arrived from World Medical Mission to complete the installation. This went well and we were only out of x-ray services for part of one day. We are now able to take digital x-rays of our patients and distribute them throughout the hospital immediately. The quality of the images is also significantly better which helps us with diagnosis. We are looking forward to many years of service from this equipment.
We worked very hard over the Christmas holidays when our patient census was low to remodel two of our patient wards. By early January the work was completed and we were ready to receive patients in the updated wards. These wards were part of the original general hospital here, so they were badly in need of work. We put up new ceiling board, wall outlets and painted everything. We are currently remodeling the nursing stations to complete the work. It is much nicer now for both our patients and staff.
With support from NAB Special Projects and the For We Care Foundation, we have raised enough funds to begin construction on a student hostel. This will provide accommodations for medical students and others who come to Mbingo for training. We hope to complete it by late 2014.