Health care for 30,000 slum residents in Mali

After a brick laying community ceremony on September 27th, construction of a health center for 30,000 underserved slum residents will begin! Sikoroni residents are continuing to invest in their own community with individual contributions to make up $8000 of the costs and the remaining funds will be funded through a combination of MHOP donations and committed money from the Malian government. The National Ministry for Health has at long last approved our application! We just need to complete our US-based fundraising.

The clinic is scheduled to be completed by June 2009, so Ben and I have spent the last few weeks revising a list of the medial supplies needed to equip the clinic. We met with Dr. Magdalene Togo, the ex-chief of medicine of the national hospital, at the Ministry of Health to better understand what clinic equipment we could expect to be “prise en charge” (provided by the government) and what will need to be provided by MHOP. Dr Togo immediately agreed to assist with questions during the clinic construction process and provided us with a copy of the “Liste Type Material CSCOM”, a list of equipment that is supposedly provided by the government to each CSCOM (local clinic).

After meeting with Togo, we visited several neighboring clinics, and it became clear that most CSCOMS aren’t supplied even with the “minimum” materials. We spoke with the Médecin Chefs at nearby CSCOMS to determine which equipment they saw as essential. They assisted us in creating a prioritized list of crucial equipment but most of all stressed the need for equipment to be continuously updated and replaced. MHOP clearly needs to supplement the equipment that will be provided by the government. Over the next year, our student group will form partnerships with international medical supply organizations and seek donations from US hospitals and universities to acquire high-quality equipment not covered by the Ministry of Health.