Bball Story: Bwindi Community Hospital Tour

After landing in Kihihi, my driver for the next 4 days met me and we left for the Bwindi Community Hospital, my first stop. This small but thriving clinic was founded in 2003 by Dr. Scott Kellerman and began as an outreach clinic located under a tree. Originally the mission was to provide free health care to the Batwa Pygmies who had been displaced by the government when the Bwindi Impenetrable forest was declared a National Park in 1993. Like most displaced indigenous peoples world-wide, leaving the forest did not improve their lives. Landless and unable to continue to live their native way of life which was centred around the flora and fauna of the rainforest, the Batwa moved into villages where they were used as cheap labour and suffered a multitude of hardships. When Dr. Kellermann arrived to do a health census of the Batwa he found alarming rates of HIV, malaria and needless suffering and death from diarrhea and other preventable diseases. And so seeing a need, he started the clinic.

It has now grown into a 112-bed hospital providing health care to a population of over 100,000 people. The organization that I was previously involved with, Buy-a-Net Malaria Prevention Group (BAN) helped to create an outreach program (HEAL) which serviced 101 remote mountain villages. BAN funded the purchase of boda bodas and hired nurses to drive to remote areas to provide basic health care, training and education of preventative health practices. The project was very successful but was downsized after three years due to lack of funding and the inability of the BAN Charitable Board to stay solvent.

So, with a planned trip to Bwindi, I knew I need to visit. I dropped in unannounced and was warmly welcomed. Barnabus, the communications Lead, was amazed that I had been involved with BAN and gave me full tour.

The hospital offers a wide range of services, from the treatment of HIV, diarrhoea, malnutrition, malaria and other diseases of poverty. They also have clinics for diabetes, epilepsy and high blood pressure as well as dental and eye clinics. They have a busy maternity ward and are able to do C-sections. They are one of a few hospitals who offer treatment for fistulas.

The next afternoon, word of my visit had spread and it was acknowledged that Dr. Kellermann was currently working and teaching in Bwindi. The staff arranged a meeting and we had tea together at my hotel where he shared some of the successes of the HEAL program and the clinic itself. We commiserated about the challenges of teaching and a shared love of Africa. It was a pleasant hour of communication in my solo trip.