The Revival Centre in Matugga, Uganda

Revival Clinic

The clinic is at the top of the Revival Centre site near the main road through Matugga giving good access to the community. It was established in April 2007 within a block that was built in 2001 as a two-classroom primary school.

Ivan's elder sister and senior nurse Ruth who runs the Revival Clinic previously had a clinic in Matugga but it was in expensive rented accommodation. Moving to the Revival site saved on the rent, made the service immediately available to the school children, boarders and champions and allowed Ivan and Ruth to work together in serving their community.

Ruth and her nurses Juliet and Victoria and lab technician Rose are the first port of call for all types of illness and accident. Togther the three nurses provide a 24 hour service 7 days a week, 365 days a year and treat around 450 patients a month. When there is a difficult delivery or other demanding situation two or three nurses need to be involved and sleep is regularly sacrificed. More civilised shifts could be operated if it were possible to fund an additional nurse.

Recent treatment data from the clinic shows the major conditions to be malaria, upper respiratory tract infections (asthma, coughs, flu, pnuemonia), TB, boils and wounds, HIV, sexually transmitted diseases, typhoid fever, diarrhoea, measles, chicken pox, hypertension, burns, eye infections and skin conditions.

Ruth regards the clinic as part of her Christian ministry to the needy of her community and so she treats those who cannot pay for their drugs or treatment as well as those who can. Often she will take just a couple of hundred Ugandan shillings (worth a few UK pence) to give people the dignity of feeling that they have contributed and not totally relied on charity.

It has taken 2 years to develop the clinic to the good state it is in today. With the final works completed in April 2009 the clinic should soon be formally registered with the district health authorities. Ruth is very proud of her clinic which has a small office and consulting room, a waiting room, male and female wards, a delivery room and a room for treating the students. A small room at the end of the block is home to the two young nurses Juliet and Victoria.

Clinic 3 Apr07
Clinic Treat Sept07

Recent blessings have included the gift of a pathology microscope which now helps in the diagnosis of conditions and informs their treatment and a computer for record keeping. The microscope has enabled a sample analysis service to be developed which brings in a small additional income to the clinic.

Current Needs

The clinic is doing well but the working arrangements for the nurse would be less pressurised if we could afford to employ another nurse. We recently provided some money to pay for a doctor or medical officer to call twice a week to support Ruth and the team with the more difficult cases (this is a requirement of clinic registration) but we don't have funding in place to cover this £100pcm cost beyond October 2009. The most serious cases are referred to the district hospital or hospitals in Kampala.

Current income from clinic fees and support from the UK covers the salaries of the current staff and the replenishment of drugs every month, but it does not provide for the regular replenishment of reagents for the sample analysis service. Equpiment to assist the more difficult births is also urgently needed.