Who are we
Following a holiday trip to Uganda in 2007, to observe the famous gorillas in the Bwindi Forest National Park, Dr Forat Sadry came across a very basic and remote field hospital in Bwindi, a village located in the far south-west of the country, almost on the Rwanda and Congolese border and a haven for refugees from conflicts in those neighbouring countries.
The isolation of the hospital together with the lack of support from the Ugandan Ministry of Health, motivated her to gather a group of doctors and specialists to provide assistance in improving hospital facilities and treatment options. They set up a not-for-profit organisation called “Africomed” with the aim of providing assistance to the hospital for the coming 5 to 10 years.
Thus in November 2010 a small group of volunteers from Fribourg (Switzerland) set off to Bwindi, at their own expense, to provide medical assistance and basic equipment to this small remote community hospital. In addition to providing expert medical care, they set up teaching and training facilities for local staff. Sponsorships and scholarships were also established to cover the costs associated with postgraduate training of doctors and nurses.
Set up in 2003 as a rudimentary dispensary to provide medical assistance to Batwa pygmies, who often had to travel great distances for basic medical care, the dispensary became a hospital for this isolated region with the help of the Fribourg volunteers and a number of other foundations and associations. Now run by 115 Ugandan staff and 4 doctors, Bwindi Community Hospital with 110 beds treats approximately 40,000 patients a year, provides medical assistance to about 200 neighbouring villages and also teaches basics in hygiene at nearby schools. In May 2014 it opened it’s first nursing school.
We are continuously seeking material support and donations from corporations, foundations and members of the public to cover costs associated with our projects in surgery, medicine, radiology, paediatric and other services. Funds for the shipping of donated medical equipment are also sought.