Chogoria Hospital

Kenya

Chogoria Hospital in Kenya was established in 1923 by a Church of Scotland missionary, the Rev. Clive Irvine and carried on by his son. The hospital is now owned by the Presbyterian Church of East Africa. Chogoria Hospital is situated 140 miles northeast of Nairobi in the eastern foothills of Mount Kenya. A population of 450,000 people is served by the hospital and its surrounding clinics. At 4 percent Kenya has one of the highest growth rates in the world but in this area it has been reduced to around 3 percent by an extensive family planning program run by the hospital. At an altitude of 5,000 feet, the heavy seasonal rain and deep red soil combine to make tea and coffee important cash crops which supplement the staple food of maize and beans. In the lower areas, however, the people are poorer and food shortage is a recurrent problem.

The extensive medical program at Chogoria offers both curative and preventive medicine including dental and ophthalmic care. Malaria, pneumonia and gastritis are common causes of illness in the medical wards, and in the surgical wards female pelvic infection, miscarriages, trauma and gastric cancer predominate.

The Chogoria Hospital Community Health staff serves 31 outlying clinics. These clinics have been developed with extensive local community involvement through "harambees" (fund drives) and local administering committees. Each clinic is directed by a community health nurse who supervises voluntary field educators and trained traditional birth attendants. In addition, the clinic staff provide AIDS education, curative and preventive care for all ages and serves as a referral system for the hospital. The College of Nursing has recently changed from training enrolled nurses to train Kenya Registered Community Health Nurses. This cadre of nurse will be better equipped to undertake both preventive and curative care in a rural setting.

Emphasis is placed upon family planning and infant care. Traditional birth attendants, individuals who assist with childbirth in the home, have been credited with substantially improving antenatal care and lowering the occurrence of neonatal tetanus, and increasing the success of family planning. Donations help subsidize the cost of preventive and curative care at the hospital and clinics. The hospital drugs formulary, standard treatment guidelines and other measures for cost containment help us in our constant struggle to offer quality medical services at a price that our local population can afford. An insurance program is used to supplement hospital income. In addition, the related youth program supported by Chogoria Hospital has focused upon family planning education for young people. They encourage young women to carefully consider their options and to avoid early pregnancies. Breast feeding rather than the use of formula is also stressed to counteract the heavy advertising campaigns of the formula producing companies.

Funds for the Chogoria Hospital are being raised by the Medical Benevolence Foundation.

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