It's been a while, but we haven't been sitting still! In two days we were able to provide no fewer than 461 people with medical help. You can read how we did that and what else we have planned in this update!
At the beginning of the year, we got in contact with Makaye Infosec, a company founded and run by George Makaye. His company has a special giving-back program in which they want to “give back” a part of the profits to the world every year. This year, Martus Foundation is one of the selected charities with which Makaye Infosec collaborates! This helped to set up an initiative where we were able to help a lot of people in a short time and we worked closely with the local health care institutions in Kahama. We spent about a month planning and organizing the activities, but in mid-June, the time had come: the very first Martus Medical Camp was planned. A two-day camp focused on the most common non-communicable diseases such as malaria, diabetes, lung diseases, and cardiovascular diseases. The camp was set up in one of the suburbs of Kahama, Kilago. To make the camp run smoothly, we worked closely with the local healthcare institutions and the district managers.
It was quite exciting because apart from the fact that we distributed our flyers to the population through the various district managers and public care centers, we had no idea how many visitors the camp would attract. Together with medical help from Kilago Municipal Hospital, we formed a team of 13 motivated doctors and nurses.
The first day started quietly, but slowly more and more people came to take a look. The day went well, a total of 185 people were screened and treated on the first day. Not only the medical check was part of the camp, we also wanted to provide information to the population to better recognize symptoms. Of course, there was also medication available for those who needed it. During the camp, Fortunatus was also able to help 60 households with long-term access to healthcare institutions by means of CHF insurance cards.
The second day was a lot busier, luckily three extra aid workers from the local institution were able to help to ensure that this day also runs smoothly. There were 276 visitors on this day. Some patients were found to be in a more advanced stage of disease, after which they were transferred to the hospital. The support and cooperation with the institutions and district managers in the region have been fantastic, it provides a good basis for future collaborations. We are very grateful for the warm welcome!
All in all, it has been a very successful Medical Camp where we were able to provide 461 patients with the care they needed. A fantastic result and an even stronger start. It's been less than two weeks and several district managers have asked us when Martus Foundation will be back because not everyone has received help yet.
Click on the images below for an impression of the day:
We hope to be back soon with our Mobile Clinic, the next project we will realize. In this project, we want to buy a strong car and convert it into a mobile clinic. With this, Fortunatus will visit families in remote areas to provide them with the care they need. You can compare it with a kind of driving doctor! Do you also want to contribute to helping even more people and really make a difference together with the Martus Foundation? Help us! Because as Fortunatus always says, "Together, we can!"