Serabu

Dates and Facts

Project begin: 2010

Last mission: summer 2021

Missions: The German Doctors performed a total of 270 voluntary missions in Serabu from 2010 to the end of the project.

Project begin: 2010

Partner: The German Doctors cooperated with the Bo diocese.

Structure: German specialists from the fields of surgery, obstetrics, pediatrics, and public health worked together daily.

Mission site: the Serabu Community Hospital in the district of Bumpeh Ngao. In addition, local coworkers drove to surrounding villages to perform health education and training in hygiene.

Most common health problems: malaria, undernourishment, and diarrhea.

Priority: German medical specialists treated patients in the Serabu Community Hospital and trained native medical personnel. Clinical health officers from Sierra Leone were trained in our hospital to later be able to work independently. Our most important task was to lower mother and child mortality. Our medical priorities were obstetrics, infections, surgical emergencies, and chronic internal diseases.

Consequences after incidents of corruption: From the beginning, our commitment to the Serabu Community Hospital was designed in such a way that we would be able to withdraw after a phase of support and training. Due to disagreements with the local sponsor, not least because of allegations of corruption that have unfortunately been confirmed by independent sources, the decision was made in 2021 to end the cooperation prematurely. We are grateful that we have been able to help so many people in the past years through the work of the German Doctors. And even more for the fact that we were able to contribute a lot to the training of medical personnel within the framework of the cooperation. We continue our commitment to the people of Sierra Leone, for example in projects for the training of pediatric specialists and in the fight against female genital mutilation.

Medically neglected country

We supported a hospital in Sierra Leone from 2020 until 2021 and skill trained native medical personnel. Sierra Leone’s clinical health workers were trained in our hospital to later be able to provide medical care independently. Our most important task was to lower the mother and child mortality. Our medical priorities were obstetrics, infections, surgical emergencies, and, increasingly, chronic internal diseases.

The Serabu Community hospital consisted of an emergency ward, an outpatient clinic, and inpatient wards, which was divided into wards for women, men, children, and a postnatal ward with a total of 143 beds. The hospital also had a delivery room and an operating room. The pediatric ward was the largest area. There was also an outpatient clinic for patients with HIV and tuberculosis and an outpatient area for children under 5 years. We supported a feeding program for children. Native coworkers drove to surrounding villages to provide health education and training in hygiene.

Obstetrics and pediatrics

Too many women still died during or after delivery in Sierra Leone. Therefore, the German Doctors offered antenatal care and safe deliveries by experienced midwives in the hospital’s delivery room. A German surgeon was also always present who was able to perform a lifesaving emergency caesarian section. We had installed a separate area for premature and sick babies within our pediatric ward since these patients required especially intensive care. The mortality rate among children is extremely high. 120 of 1000 children do not reach their fifth birthday. That is why care of women and children was a priority for us.

Treatment of children under 5 in the outpatient clinic, in inpatient care, and also the provision of medication was completely free. Thanks to the good work performed by the German Doctors and the hospital team, trust in the hospital among the rural population has risen. Our goal was s to convince people to bring sick children quickly to the German Doctors. This was the way we could save lives endangered by severe diseases like malaria.

From anesthesia to surgery

The local personnel in the Serabu Community Hospital was highly motivated, but at the beginning of the project they lack above all specialist knowledge. This led to the idea to further train community health officers, who already had general medical training, so that we would be able to turn specialist areas, like anesthesia, obstetrics and surgery, completely over to the local staff in a few years.

In 2013 we began to train nurses to become anesthetic nurses and community health officers to become anesthesia assistants based on the state training program. Our German Doctors also trained personnel in the specialties surgery and obstetrics. The results had been impressive; hundreds of live-saving operations have been performed by community health officers trained and supervised by our specialists.

Sierra Leone was just beginning to show economic progress when the Ebola epidemic set the country back massively. This West African country lacks trained medical personnel, health centers, and also well-equipped hospitals. This is why Ebola was able to spread so widely. About 4,000 people died of this disease in Sierra Leone. Many of our citizens also died of other diseases during the epidemic because they did not go to the hospitals or health centers for fear of contracting Ebola or they were closed.

Sierra Leone is one of the poorest countries in the world although it is rich in resources. There are huge deficits in the infrastructure. Child mortality is one of the highest in the world. Many too many mothers do not survive childbirth. The overall health situation of the population is horrible; 54% of child deaths are due to undernourishment. The Serabu Community Hospital is the only medical facility for the approximately 50,000 people who live in the Bumpeh Ngao district.