The staff work diligently to offer as much care and support to patients - there is immense poverty around them and the hospital tries to ensure their patients are offered as much practical support as possible. Nurse Tamoko writes:

‘We have more and more Angolan patients in wards, and they often stay months before they get better and go home. We need our TB ward again. We used to have TB wards and a renovation was not done for several years, then it became Covid isolation rooms since 2020. People want to use the wards for those who pay insurance for hospital care. We really have to have TB wards again, as our TB patients are now taking up spaces in other wards. We are trying to finish the renovation this month.

I am very grateful to have those supplies in parcels from Canada, the States, and from the UK. I have been giving beans and tins of food, milk, juice, peanut butter, oats, rice etc., to the patients who are needing extra protein and nutrition. Those poor TB patients are very wasted and very weak. Thank you for all of your help.

Two cases of measles were brought in on Friday night from across the river. Two boys were sick and unconscious, unfortunately the 5 year old boy passed away soon after arrival. Another boy three years old is slightly better and able to drink some milk and eat some fruits. A big thank you to the people who sent us apple sauces from overseas. We took some blood specimens from him and his one year old sister. The samples will be taken to town for measles testing. They are Zambians, but went across the river, and stayed in the bush near Angola. The parents never took the children for vaccinations. It is so sad that when children get the measles, they cannot eat much because of mouth ulcers. Often small children die as parents don't give them food and enough fluid. In 2008, 5000 people died in Cazombo because of an outbreak of measles. We admitted over 800 people with measles from 2008 to 2009. Vaccinations are important.’

Please pray for the hospital as it offers this vital support that so many people’s lives depend on.