Lunch, speaker Dr Unwin

HENLEY ROTARIANS HEAR MORE ABOUT KAMULI HOSPITAL

At this week’s lunch meeting of Henley Rotary Club at the Red Lion Hotel on Tuesday, members had an illustrated update from Dr Phillip Unwin, senior partner of the Hart Surgery, on his work with the Kamuli Mission Hospital in Uganda.

Having originally worked with Henley Bridge Rotarian Dr Jim McWhirter at the Kamuli hospital, Dr Unwin is now concentrating on providing modern facilities there, whilst Dr McWhirter is now working throughout Uganda, installing new systems to many hospitals in the country.

Dr Unwin started a registered charity in 2012 (Kamuli Friends) whose aims are to provide funding for building projects, some medical equipment and introducing volunteers to the hospital – both medical and nursing professional as well as students.

At Tuesday’s presentation, he showed a video he had produced when he was there in May last year (although he returned there for a fortnight in November) and this illustrated the structural improvements which had been made to the site, which had been a hospital since 1914 when it had been opened as two grass huts.

He suggested that a third of  the U.K.’s overseas aid budget going to Uganda ended up being “misappropriated” and that was why fundraising had been channelled through the local Rotary Club of Jinja, the nearest large town, and recently through his own charity, Kamuli Friends.

The next two projects for the Friends were the construction of a new paediatric ward within the complex, to replace the existing children’s ward which had been located outside the perimeter fence, and a medical ward, the total cost of both expected to be in the region of £250,000. The paediatric development will include a children’s play area, as well as places for families to stay, where they would not be plagued by the enormous bats which had found their way into the roof space of the outside huts.

Other aims included providing a regular supply of oxygen and funds to buy toxin for treating snake bites. Dr Unwin foresaw that the new building projects should be complete in about 18 months and promised to keep the club updated on progress.

During questions, he revealed that the costs of running the hospital were divided roughly into a third by the Ugandan government, a third from patient fees and a third from the Kamuli Friends. He also revealed that the maternity unit had performed 2,500 caesarean section births in a year.

Barry Prior gave the vote of thanks, congratulating the charity on building for the future.

The meeting was also attended by one of District 1090’s assistant governors, Jolante Lis, from the Bicester club, as well as a ‘scatter’ visitor from the Thatcham club (who were not meeting themselves this week)