Your Support Provides Life-Saving Medical Equipment in Rural Tanzania
The Machame and Karatu Regions of Tanzania face significant healthcare challenges due to limited access to healthcare, especially in rural and remote villages. Long travel distances, shortages of healthcare workers, and limited medical resources can delay treatment and access to care. Maternal and child health outcomes are concerning, with limited prenatal and emergency obstetric services, while illnesses such as pneumonia, diarrhea, and malaria continue to impact many children.
The good news is your support helped provide Machame Lutheran Hospital and Karatu Lutheran Hospital with much needed equipment that can help diagnose and treat patients quickly and provide a higher quality of care.
Operating Theater Lights
According to Zebadia S. Moshi, the General Secretary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT), Northern Diocese, “Surgery is a delicate art, and visibility is paramount.” At Machame hospital, the main operating theatre previously relied on aging lights that cast shadows and made it difficult to distinguish tissue layers. Thanks to your support, Global Health Ministries provided three new, high intensity operating theater lights. These lights transformed their surgical capacity. During a recent Cesarean section, the lights allowed a surgeon to see a small bleed that might have otherwise been missed. “These lights have boosted the confidence of our surgical team and directly contributed to safer procedures for mothers and babies.”
Delivery Beds
Additionally, the delivery beds were worn and lacked flexibility to assist with complicated deliveries. Thanks to your support, they received three new delivery beds that are fully adjustable, allowing midwives to find the optimal position for the mother during the delivery process. General Secretary Moshi states “Recently, these beds made it easier for our staff to manage a breech delivery, providing the support and positioning needed to safely turn and deliver the baby safely.”
Ventilator
In the past, the Hospital’s capacity to care for patients with severe respiratory failure was often limited. Medical staff often had to stabilize patients and transfer them, which can be risky. Your support provided a brand-new ventilator which is saving lives. Recently, a patient was admitted with severe pneumonia and respiratory distress. Thanks to the new ventilator, staff were able to support the patient’s breathing for three days while antibiotics fought the infection. As a result, the patient made a full recovery.
Supply shortages and wear and tear of medical equipment was a big challenge for Machame and Karatu Hospitals. GHM has been able to help solve that challenge by financing the purchase of modern medical equipment that is now going to improve the quality services to patients.
Automated Biochemistry Machine
The automated biochemistry machine is a laboratory device that quickly tests blood, urine, or other body fluids to diagnose and monitor health conditions. The machine runs many tests faster and more accurately than doing them individually by hand. This machine, made possible by your support, has revolutionized Machame’s internal medicine department.
Before the arrival of this machine, the laboratory staff worked tirelessly and performed tests by hand. Patients often had to wait hours, or return the next day, for critical blood work results. Moshi remarks, “Now, we can run tests in a fraction of the time. For a recent emergency case of diabetic ketoacidosis, we received the patient’s glucose and electrolyte levels within minutes, allowing us to adjust their treatment immediately”.
Your ongoing support for equipment and supplies is saving lives and is transforming health delivery.