CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

Another Goal Met in the Regional Programme for Paediatric Care and Cardiac Surgery

Good Morning Bangui

Each day the staff at the Paediatric Centre in Bangui provides free specialized assistance to forty children. Thanks to periodic visits to the Centre by the international cardiologists, patients can be screened to determine whether they require surgery at the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery.  The required post-operative follow up care is also guaranteed.

It is Friday, 6 March 2009, 9:30 AM. “The promise has been kept,” declares Francois Bozizé, the President of the Central African Republic. Together with the Prime Minister, the President of the National Assembly, and the foreign ambassadors present in the country, Bozizé attended the inauguration of the Paediatric Centre in Bangui, a new development in EMERGENCY’s Paediatric Care and Cardiac Surgery Programme in Africa.
 
The government of the Central African Republic had immediately provided aid and support for the project, granting EMERGENCY use of a centrally located plot of land near the Parliament buildings.  This is where the Paediatric Centre would be built. Construction began in March 2008. The project was assigned to a Central African company that carried out the plans to perfection, respecting the deadlines and the predetermined budget.
 
Finally, the Paediatric Centre was ready for its inaugural opening. With its red and white coloured external walls, its surface area covers 550 square meters. It includes an internal patio transformed into a play area with an imaginary scene of grassy plains filled with toy crocodiles, rhinoceros, elephants…
 
The Centre, which is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, offers medical assistance to children up to 14 years of age. Immunisation and health and hygiene education programmes are also offered.
 
During periodic evaluation missions, in the cardiology ward EMERGENCY’s international specialists come to screen and evaluate  patients suffering from heart disease to determine those in need of transfer to the Salam Centre in Khartoum for treatment. After surgery, the patients are guaranteed post-operative check-ups at the Centre in Bangui.

In Bangui, Like Goderich and Khartoum: Malaria and Diarrhoea are the Most Common Maladies

News of the opening of the Bangui Paediatric Centre spreads rapidly by word of mouth. In a scene similar to those in other EMERGENCY Pediatric Centres - such as in Khartoum, Sudan and in Goderich, Sierra Leone - from  the early morning hours mothers and children crowd the entrance of the hospital, awaiting their turn to be examined.
 
Each day, Paola a paediatric nurse, and Mariella a paediatrician, with the assistance of local doctors and nurses, examine forty children on average. With six beds in the Centre, the doctors  are able to admit serious cases overnight, as needed.  Just one day after its opening, the first patient was admitted. His name was Jonathan, and at 22 months weighed in at only 7 kilos. He arrived suffering from dehydration due to severe persistent diarrhoea. As soon as he reached the Centre, doctors immediately initiated oral rehydration treatment, and proceeded with blood tests for Malaria, which came back positive.

Together with his father who accompanied him, Jonathan now christens the clinic's new toys with the hope of going back home soon.


PIETRO PARRINO

Translated By Roland Swan