An obstetric ultrasound is a critical tool in ensuring a fetus is healthy and developing normally – and thanks to the supporters of Bread and Water for Africa® one is on the way to a newly-opened hospital in Cameroon.
Recently we were proud to announce – again thanks to our generous supporters – that our partner there, Hope Services Ministry International, had just opened a new hospital in Douala with significant financial resources from Bread and Water for Africa® in order to serve tens of thousands of the most needy in the country.
But once that task was completed, the next step was to equip it with the most modern medical equipment possible.
In partnership with New Orleans Medical Mission Services, whose mission is to bring medical equipment and supplies to needy people in foreign countries, we are working to ship a 40-foot container filled with 21,100 pounds of medical supplies.
Among the items are thousands of various types of needles, syringes, tubing, bandages, dressing, gauze, clamps…the list goes on and on.
However, the single most important item in the shipment is a Sequoia ultrasound system, refurbished to be good as new.
With the ultrasound machine, doctors will be able to determine the actual gestational age of the fetus, determine its location, check for the number of fetuses, check for major physical abnormalities, assess fetal growth, detect fetal movements and heartbeat, determine the sex of the baby – and most importantly, confirm fetal viability.
Hope Services’ Bonendale Hospital is able to provide general consultation and emergency services, minor surgeries, laboratory services, deliveries, antenatal care and post-natal counseling, and coming soon will be pediatric services, vaccinations, and major surgical services – all of which are desperately needed in the country.
Hope Services has been providing free and extremely-low cost medical care to the most needy and vulnerable in Cameroon for 25 years through makeshift clinics and outreach programs and now, thanks to people like you is in sight of reaching its true potential.
“Our long term goal has been the extension of medical services in Douala for the benefit of the poor,” says Hope Services founder and director Esther Ndichafah. “This project is a giant step into our long-term goal.”