Medical Imaging Suite Improves Diagnostic Ability

I am very pleased to report directly from Mwandi, Zambia that the major construction of the Medical Imaging Suite has been completed and that only final touches and furnishings remain to be finished! The pictures will show you the external façade of the building, as well as the major imaging rooms in the facility. As you will see the equipment is not yet in place. The ultrasound equipment is currently housed in another area of the hospital, but will be moved as soon as the curtains have been installed in the designated room, and the room is thoroughly cleaned. The X-ray machine and the CT scanner have been procured by the government through the Ministry of Health and will be delivered as soon as available. 

We are grateful for the governmental support in this effort. The wonderful news is that with this technology, the hospital has now been designated as a Level 2 facility -- one of our major goals for this project! The new title for the hospital is the Mwandi General Hospital and all the personnel at the hospital are very excited and proud of the new designation.

The support we have received from our generous GlobalGiving donors has made all of this possible and without you we would not have completed this project in record time. The facility's construction was completed in 11 months! This was a record time frame -- from fund-raising to completion -- when compared to any of the previous American Partner projects at the hospital. Thank you for all you do for the Mwandi General Hospital and for helping the hospital achieving the long-term goal of obtaining Level 2 hospital status. The new status means that the hospital staffing will increase by about 400 medical professionals, the catchment area populations served by this hospital will increase 3.5 times, new medical specialties will be added, and government financial support will be increased. This status change will elevate the importance of the hospital and what it can achieve for the populations it serves. Thanks to all of our donors, we will be always grateful for your continued belief in the importance of healthcare in rural Zambia.

Construction of the Medical Imaging Suite is in its final stages. Interior painting of the facility and finishing of the outer walls is being done as this report is being written. The lead doors and walls for the x-ray room and for the future Computerized Tomography (CT) room have been installed and covered with the cement blocks, dry wall, and plaster work. To remind our donors, the building will have spaces for the following medical diagnostic technologies: x-ray, ultrasound, echocardiogram, electrocardiogram (ECG) and CT scans. In addition, the facility will contain a staff office, a staff toilet and shower with an adjacent changing space, patient changing rooms and toilets, and a janitorial service closet.

The American Partners’ Program and Site Manager, Lawrence Kamba, expects that final painting of the facility will be completed in the next several weeks. Hence, as soon as the x-ray machine is installed, patients will be able to have x-ray diagnostic procedures at the Mwandi hospital. This is an important step toward the hospital's ability to achieve Level II status! The other imaging technologies will be added as funds become available.

The pictures included with this report show: the building's exterior facade prior to final finishing, the nearly completed x-ray room, the layering of finishes over the installed lead walls and ceilings in the x-ray and CT scanner rooms, and the installed lead doors and observation window in the CT scanner room. As reported last time, the construction of this building has been done by local tradesmen in Mwandi and is actively contributing to the Mwandi village economy.

We thank our generous donors and partners for recognizing the healthcare needs in the Mwandi District and for helping realize the goals for constructing facilities that will enable healthcare personnel to provide the best possible care for the people in Western Province Zambia.