Visit to Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre
In September 2018, Care4Burn’s founder, Karianne W. Fjære, returned to Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC) at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Moshi, Tanzania. The aim of the visit was to continue the collaboration with the hospital and to resume the conversation on how Care4Burn can contribute to KCMC and the Burn Unit’s ambition to become the country’s leading hospital and ward within burn wound care.
The Burn Unit at KCMC opened in 2016 and has a total of 20 beds. Currently, 17 patients are admitted, where the majority are children with second and third degree burns. The burn unit currently employs 5 full-time nurses. Together with the resident doctors, they provide the daily treatment and care of patients. The Burn Unit has a well-functioning wound care program, where bandages are changed every other day, together with physiotherapy.
Despite the fact that the Burn Unit has a well-functioning wound care program, patients spend an average of 3-6 months in the ward before being discharged. One of the biggest challenges facing the patients in the Burn Unit is the lack of trained personnel in burn care management and access to necessary and modern surgical equipment for plastic and reconstructive surgery. Another urgent challenge is the lack of resources in the hospital and low access to the hospital’s operating theatres, meaning that burn wound patients often lie weeks and months awaiting their crucial surgery.
At this year’s meeting between Care4Burn and KCMC, the necessity for connecting an operating theatre to the burn unit was discussed in addition to the need for surgical equipment and training of local doctors and nurses.
A dedicated operating theatre, equipped with surgical equipment, and managed by skilled local health care professionals would make a tremendous difference and boost the quality of treatment for the patients. With its own operating theatre, specialist physicians, conducting modern plastic surgery would likely be able to perform 1-2 surgeries daily, compared with 1-2 operations per week at this time.
One of Care4Burn’s goals for 2019 is to collect funds for additional surgical equipment used for modern burn care treatment (Mesh-machine and dermatomes) for KCMC and the burn unit.
Together we can make a difference!
If you have questions or want to hear more about our work and how you can contribute, please feel free to contact us at info@care4burn.org.
