Uganda’s Minister of Health Thanks AMREF for Sending Ten More Experts in Response to Kampala Explosions
July 21 2010 – Uganda’s Minister of Health Honourable Dr Stephen Mallinga welcomed and publicly thanked AMREF’s team of ten medical specialists who arrived in Kampala last night to help treat the influx of patients injured in the July 11 twin explosions.
“We would like to say thank you on behalf of the Ugandan government. Thank you for an exemplary job in treating these patients,” said Honourable Dr Stephen Mallinga.
The team, led by AMREF’s Head of Surgical Outreach, Dr John Wachira will work with the doctors and nurses at Kampala’s Mulago National Hospital. Mulago received an overwhelming number of patients after last week’s explosions that resulted in 76 deaths and at least 40 critically injured.
The team will provide expertise in neurosurgery, orthopaedics, anaesthesiology, intensive care and psychology as they work with a matching team from Mulago Hospital.
Honourable Mallinga further added that the partnership between AMREF and the Ministry of Health is a good incentive for East Africa as neighbouring countries of the East African community can indeed support each other to manage disasters of this kind.
At a joint press conference by the Ministry of Health and AMREF at the Mulago Hospital, AMREF in Uganda’s Country Director Joshua Kyallo explained that many of the experts have extensive experience in similar emergencies.
“AMREF learned a lot from the 1998 attacks on the American Embassy in Nairobi and many of the experts here were part of AMREF’s emergency response,” he said.
The team of ten is the second group AMREF has dispatched to support the Ministry of Health’s response to the Kampala explosions. On July 15, AMREF sent a team of four medical staff to assist at the hospital and assess the materials and personnel needed.
AMREF has since sent two shipments of medical supplies and equipment.
Over the next week, the AMREF team will operate on 10 – 15 patients, providing critical and reconstructive care. Along with treating physical wounds, AMREF has also sent along a psychologist and psychology counsellor to help patients deal with emotional wounds of living through this traumatic event.
“Even after all the patients leave the hospital, go home and their wounds heal, the emotional wounds and scars still remain. The people who lost loved ones and saw people die need our support,” says Dr Wachira.
Clinical care and emergency response has been at the heart of AMREF’s work since AMREF was founded 53 years ago. Each year, the AMREF Specialist Outreach Programme trains over 1,000 doctors and 3,000 nurses while carrying out almost 17,000 consultations in more than 100 remote hospitals in seven African countries. In times of emergency, AMREF mobilises doctors, nurses and paramedics to support these missions.
As long term partners, AMREF and Uganda’s Ministry of Health have worked closely together on strengthening health systems and bridging the gap between communities and formal health systems in Uganda.
The ten medical experts dispatched to the Mulago National Hospital are:
Dr Jane Carter – an internist and haematologist, she is the Director of the Clinical and Diagnostics Programme. She is currently in Uganda to guide and coordinate the AMREF-Ministry of Health emergency response. Dr Carter was pivotal to the AMREF response during the 1998 bombing in Nairobi.
Dr John Wachira - consultant surgeon and urologist. Dr Wachira has been the Head of AMREF’s Surgical Outreach Programme in eastern Africa for 20 years and comes with a wealth of experience working with and teaching other surgeons in some of the most remote areas of the eastern Africa region. He has been involved in several disasters and managed crises in the region including the 1998 Nairobi bomb blast, the Molo oil tanker explosion in Kenya, and the outcomes of the Rwanda genocide and DRC crisis.
Dr Meshack Onguti - a maxillofacial surgeon and former Director of the Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenya’s largest referral hospital. He played a key role in helping the victims of the U.S. Embassy bombings in Nairobi in 1998.
Dr Patrick Akuku - a neurosurgeon, who was also part of the first team that came to support the Mulago Hospital on July 16, 2010.
Dr Hezron Odondi Opele - an anaesthesiologist with a sub speciality in paediatric anaesthesiology
Lucy Kimemia – a Kenya registered Intensive Care Nurse with 6 years experience in ICU and 9 years experience as a community health nurse. She is also a forensic nurse examiner. She is currently working at Kenyatta National Hospital.
Bolivia Olasya - a Kenya registered Critical Care Nurse with experience in both critical care and high dependency nursing. She has worked for the International Organization for Migration at a refugee camp clinic.
Caroline Magiri – a Kenya registered Theatre Nurse with 6 years of experience. She was involved with the 2007 Kenya election crisis and participates in the AMREF Specialist Outreach Programme. She is currently working for the Ministry of Health in Nairobi Province.
Richard Mwangi – a Kenya registered Theatre Nurse with more than 10 years of experience, and a trained phlebotomist. He is currently employed at Nairobi Hospital.
Jael Alaro - a Kenya registered community health nurse and qualified psychologist. She was a major player for 4 years in the medical assistance programme for survivors of the 1998 bombings in Nairobi, and was also involved with the victims of the post-election violence in Kenya in 2007.
Kepha Maranga - a qualified psychology counsellor and trainer with more than 10 years experience who participates in the AMREF Specialist Outreach Programme. He has worked in trauma counselling and is a member of the Kenya Association of Professional Counsellors.
For more information please contact:
Steve Murigi
AMREF in Uganda Communications Manager
Tel: +256 777 258 053
Email: steve.murigi@amref.org
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