Kitgum Town

Kitgum Town
Kitgum Town

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Yotkom Medical Team 2012



June 27th 2012  --------our small medical team will be leaving Brisbane

Dr Andrew Wright will be accompanied by Ben Warlow, a final year medical student who will be spending his elective involved in Tropical Health Care at St Josephs Hospital Kitgum and the Bregma Primary Health Care Clinic . For 4 weeks in July we will be assisting the medical teams who work full time  on the ground in Kitgum, Northern Uganda.
Jade Mansfield is a Nurse working currently at the Mater Hospital Brisbane. She has visited Africa in the past and would like to spend 2 weeks  in Kitgum learning more about the delivery of Primary health care in an African setting.
We have been meeting together as a team to prepare for our time away. We value the prayer support of our family and friends and home churches during our time away.

Andrew will be helping Ben and Jade to make the most of their time in Uganda, as well as building further the Yotkom partnership with health care professionals in Kitgum.

Yotkom Uganda is about:

PARTNERING  TO IMPROVE ACCESS AND EXCELLENCE IN PRIMARY HEALTH CARE
We are seeking to grow
RELATIONSHIPS
RESOURCES and
SELF RELIANCE

Here is an update on progress since last year:
We have registered as a company in Uganda and have a management board which includes Andrew,  Dr Oringa Vincent (from Bregma Clinic)and Dr Charles Abonga (from St Josephs Hospital ).


A detailed project application has been submitted to Healthserve Australia and approval has now been given for   tax deductibility for donations received in Australia.
Donations can be made to Healthserve  online at :  www.healthserve.org.au

or by mail to  PO BOX 3032.   Erina.   NSW . 2250
If donating please quote our project name: Yotkom Uganda


Medical equipment is being stored here in Brisbane to be included in a container being sent to Kitgum in the second half of 2012.

In the last few months we have been continuing our sponsorship of Richard Yulam as a clinical officer.  He will qualify in July this year

We have also been providing the salary of a clinical officer,  Peter Omara to allow him to provide support for Dr Vincent Oringa in the Bregma Clinic.

There is a search underway to locate and purchase land within Kitgum town boundary with the goal of designing and constructing a purpose built primary health centre . This land will ideally be located near to a future council land grant to allow for expansion. WE need to raise funds for this. The land will be approximately $20,000 AUS. By relocating the Bregma Clinic into a purpose built centre built and maintained by Yotkom Uganda ,the clinic will save over $1200 AUS per month in rent which can assist the ongoing sustainability of this enterprise.

A small business has been started storing and distributing medical drugs and equipment to the Kitgum district. An office/shop front has been rented and fitted out and an accountant/administrator and two nurses employed to work in the Yotkom Drug Shop/Pharmacy. We believe this will generate a small profit each month which can be re invested into the health care service and reduce reliance on donor funding for sustainability of our project.

Please remember us in JULY and check this site for our posts and photos .
with thanks
ANDREW  BEN and JADE