OPERATION HEAL AFRICA @ BOMBO:

Bridging the health gap

Over 1500 received free treatment at a medical camp in Bombo!
One of the highlights of the year 2008 for us came around in the month of September when we had a week of medical mission at Bombo.
While on a visit to Bombo in September 2007, Pastors Jim and Ken from Peninsula Community Church (PCC) felt that we could respond to the dire health needs in our community by carrying out a joint Medical Mission at Bombo.
It was at a follow-up meeting at PCC with the Pastors, elders and a team of medical personnel from PCC that we concretized the plan to host “Operation Heal Africa”
at Bombo.
After nine months of preparation, the clinic set off on Sunday afternoon on 7th September, and was concluded on Friday 12th September 2008.
The church building, which was used as our main clinic, was partitioned into many rooms to accommodate the various medical activities.
We had a number of tents positioned all over the compound where registration, waiting, counseling, and voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) for HIV/AIDS were hosted.
There were many medical personnel volunteers including doctors in their different fields of specialties, nurses, clinical officers, counselors, pharmacists etc
There were also a large number of non-medical personnel volunteers who just made sure that the clinic ran smoothly.
The community responded very well, and each day except for Sunday (the first day) we had on average 600 people coming for treatment and an average of 250 cases were handled daily.
For Bombo and the neighboring communities, “Operation Heal Africa” was God responding to their needs at an unprecedented level. The mission simply revealed the dire need for medical care in our community and I believe the entire nation.
At the end of the six days, over one thousand five hundred people (1500) had received treatment, with17 surgical operations inclusive.

Pastor and Mrs. Ojera (Hosts) together with Pastors Joseph and Yasin, leaders, ministers, and the congregation of Bombo Pentecostal Church hosted Operation Heal Africa at Bombo Pentecostal Church. We were fully backed by the local community, local authority, the town authority, and Bombo Military Head Quarters

BOMBO PENTECOSTAL CHURCH
OPERATION HEAL AFRICA
MEDICAL MISSION REPORT
Of the 1117 cases documented from the main clinic, the following data was drawn on 8 illnesses.

Voluntary Counseling Testing (VCT) Clinic
Our VCT clinic was one of the busiest areas. It attended to a record 375 people despite the fact that the clinic begun 2 days late. On a couple of occasions we ran out of test kits and business came to a stand still as we sourced for fresh supplies, mostly from Kampala (21 miles away).
It was exciting to see Bidok Wilfred, and Agga Moses who are being sponsored through Align ministries for a diploma in counseling, and Laboratory Technician courses respectively give their best at the VCT clinic.
We are very grateful for the back up from Bombo military hospital that facilitated us with lab technicians, test kits, and numerous counselors.

HIV/AIDS REPORT
At the VCT clinic, 375 people were tested for HIV/AIDS. 49% tested positive

The team from the USA
From the USA, we had a team of 11 led by Pastor Jim Welsh of Peninsula Community Church, California, USA.

From left to right Roy Medawar (coverage - video and still photos), Joey Sheckman (mission support), Karen Garland (Nurse), Les Smith (mission support), Pastor Jim Welsh (Team leader), Lindsey Welsh (mission support), Dr. Alexander Nicole, Dr. Dapo Popoola (head of mission), Lilly Popoola (mission support) Dr. Tony Ogundipe, and Alma Saiya (public health)

KITCHEN The ladies from the church voluntarily took up the responsibility to provide meals for the close to 100 volunteers during the clinic. They served break tea and lunch every day. The ladies demonstrated their skills in their area of specialty. Everyday was a treasure hunt especially for the local volunteers as they dotted from one cuisine to another across the different cultures of Uganda

CAR WASH
Our youth organized themselves into a very handy car-washing team. They ensured that every vehicle driven into the venue enjoyed a free and thorough wash. The volunteer doctors came knowing they would leave with their cars sparkling clean!

CHALLENGES MET
There were a few but major challenges we encountered in the course of preparation and the medical mission:

Local doctors:
We experienced a shortage of medical doctors. If we had more doctors available, we would have been able to treat many more than the 1500 people that were treated. Many people left without treatment because the mission ended before their turn. Some of the local doctors were not readily available throughout the mission. They could only afford a few hours on some days. Operation Heal Africa and Peninsula Community Church left behind 1,000 dollars to cater for both those that were not able to receive treatment, and those that needed continued attention.

Ophthalmologist:
An ophthalmologist was expected on the team from the USA to do surgery on eye cases. However, we were unable to find a place for him to do surgery because we did not have the facilities required for eye-surgery. Efforts to find a hospital where he could volunteer his services were frustrated by bureaucracy, and a need for a year’s advance notice. As such, the eye surgeon did not come. We had only one local doctor handling eye cases, and he came only on a few days for a few hours. This was a very great challenge indeed because second only to HIV/AIDS, the highest percentage of people that came for treatment were eye cases.

There was a large donation of medicine by “GIVING CHILDREN HOPE” from the USA for the Bombo Mission. However, we grossly underestimated the length of time procedures to clear imported medication take. By the time we got our National Drug Authority to authorize the medication sent from USA, and by the time the clearing and forwarding process was finalized, there were only two days of the mission left. This forced us to do many trips to Kampala to buy more medication and follow up its authorization and clearing. This extra expense was very big, and unplanned for.

Registration
Getting Temporal Licenses of practice for the foreign doctors proved to be a nightmare. Some of the doctors gave up on coming because of the tedious process and overly detailed requirements. Thank God for Uganda protestant Medical Bureau (UPMB) that stepped in to see the process to its end.

Facilities Being a church and not a hospital, we were really short on facilities and this was understandable. However, Bombo Military Hospital (BMH) covered us in many areas such as theatre, scan and x-ray,

Way forward:
In a nutshell, the medical mission was a good learning experience.
It is our prayer that the data gathered during the mission will guide us to better prepare ourselves for the next mission. We believe the challenges we encountered in doing business with government departments were good lessons learnt. With the wealth of experiences acquired during the first mission, we should by the grace of God be able to organize a more successful mission.

PROSPECTS
We are expecting to host yet another mission in September 2009.

Acknowledgements
Our appreciation goes to:
 Dr. Dapo Popoola for the hard work in mobilizing medical personnel from the USA, and spearheading Operation Heal Africa – Bombo.
 Pastor Jim and his team of Pastors, the leadership and entire congregation of Peninsula Community Church.
 Medical volunteers from the USA.
 Dr. Sarah Nakubulwa, leader of the Local doctors from Uganda Christian Medical Fellowship.
 The Administration at Bombo Military Headquarters.
 Bombo Military Hospital for equipment, theatre and counselors.
 The town and local authorities for their support in mobilizing the sick.
 Coca cola for shelter (tent) and refreshments.
 The members of Bombo Pentecostal church for the tireless work they rendered.
 The Lord Jesus Christ for honoring us with such an awesome visitation.

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