We were chatting with Thomas Nchimbi, one of the staff at the dispensary recently, and he reported some astounding numbers to us. In the first four months of operation, the dispensary staff saw 2,104 patients - an average of 526 per month, and 21 babies were delivered! Most similar dispensaries struggle to get 200 patients a month to come for treatment. When facilities of this size launch in many rural communities, there has to be a concerted effort to educate the local population about why they should be treated in the new facility; we don't have that problem in Sukenya!
The patients visiting the dispensary are coming to be treated for diarrhea, pneumonia, typhoid, brucellosis, pelvic inflammatory disease, and eye complaints. Women are also coming regularly for prenatal care; many of them are anemic from malaria or worms, which they are treated for. Each patient is also receiving some health education when they visit the dispensary.
The community and government have asked us to build additional staff housing at the dispensary to enable the government to assign two or three additional staff members to this very busy facility. We are hoping that we will be able to complete this project in the next few years, but in the meantime, we will keep you posted on what we hear from the dispensary!
