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Hospital is ready for first intake
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The
hospital will provide medical care for the whole
district of Kambia
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An African hospital being built with
money raised in Cheltenham is almost ready to receive its first patients.
Work on the Kambia Hospital in Sierra Leone is on schedule and it is set to
open its doors on 28th May 2004. Its completion will be a dream come
true for members of the Cheltenham-based Kambia Hospital Appeal who have been
campaigning for four years to create a modern healthcare facility for some of
the poorest people in the world.
Their previous hospital was destroyed during the civil war in 1999.
In preparation for the big day, £25,000 worth of equipment, including surgical
instruments and anaesthetic units, is being sent by the charity.
And £10,000, raised with the help of the Allied Dunbar Trust, is on its way so
motorbikes can be bought to get medics out to remote villages.
Money for repairs to an ambulance, donated to the old hospital by the KHA and
the Rotary Club in 1996, is also being provided.
KHA spokesman James Dowling said: "The return of the Land Rover ambulance
is symbolic. It shows the effects of the civil war are gradually being put
right. With the rebuilding of the hospital being completed in the next few
weeks, things are really looking up for Kambia."
The Cheltenham charity has raised £95,000 since the hospital was destroyed by
rebels.
Richard Kerr-Wilson, a consultant at Cheltenham General Hospital who has
spearheaded the campaign, said: "It's excellent news and we're extremely
grateful for all the support we've had over the years through thick and thin
from the people of Cheltenham."
He added: "For years the people there had no healthcare at all. Medecins
Sans Frontieres held the fort but they will pull out now. The hospital will
provide medical care for the whole district of Kambia."
Mr Kerr-Wilson said people in Kambia were grateful to people in Gloucestershire
who have helped raise the money. He said: "They're very aware of
Cheltenham now and any Englishman going to Kambia is automatically assumed to
come from Cheltenham, wherever else they may come from. There's someone there
from Bristol and he's given up trying to explain now as they've never heard of
it."
Links between Gloucestershire and Kambia were established in 1992 when a
charity worker from Kambia visited friends in Cheltenham and appealed for help
with training and equipment.
Although the hospital is now nearing completion, the KHA will continue to raise
funds to support it.
To make a donation or find out more, go to www.kambiahospital.org.uk
© Gloucestershire
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