Aira Hospital

Aira Hospital from a distance

 

Aira Hospital is situated 525 km west of Addis Abeba between Ghimbie and Dembi Dollo. It was founded by the German Hermannsburg Mission (GHM) in the 1950’s and later handled over to the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY). The present buildings were constructed 1994. 

The hospital has surgical, medical, pediatric and maternity wards with a total of 80 beds. It is presently staffed with two Health Officers and 25 nurses supplemented with one expatriate nurse from the Swedish Evangelical Mission (SEM) and one expatriate surgeon seconded by the Evangelisher Lutheranischer Missionswerk(ELM) and Evangelischer Entvicklungs Dienst (EED) in Germany.

The total number of employees is 130.

Aira Hospital – main entrance

 

Aira School of Nursing with capacity for 48 students is attached to the hospital as well as 14 health clinics in the surroundings.

 

The outpatients department (OPD) has in average 150 – 200 visitors daily including emergencies and follow ups. The total number of visitors varies from 40 000 to 50 000 a year. The department holds several special clinics like:

·         Eye Clinic

·         Antenatal Clinic

·         Family Planning Clinic

·         HIV/AIDS Clinic

·         Pediatric (“Under Five”) Clinic

·         Tuberculosis Clinic

·         Lepra Clinic

·         Diabetic Clinic

·         Cardiac and Hypertensive Clinic

·          

OPD – waiting area

 

The hospital has since long a very good reputation, in particular for the surgical service it offers. Almost 4 000 surgical procedures a year are performed in two very basic and scanty equipped operating theatres.

Cesarean sectio

 

1 300 deliveries, the majority complicated, are handled every year including 400 cesarean sections and around 70 laparotomies for ruptured uterus.

The hospital has a guesthouse for pregnant mothers at risk, combined with a feeding centre for malnourished and undernourished children.

Guest house and Feeding centre	Mothers at risk in waiting area

 

The diagnostic tools are simple X-ray equipment, a small portable ultrasound scanner and a basically equipped laboratory.

X-ray	Ultrasound	Laboratory

 

 

 

In spite of the fact the hospital serves a rural and extremely impoverished population the budget is covered up to 75% by income from patients’ fees. The remaining 25% of the budget used to be covered by a Christian NGO from Germany. Unfortunately that NGO changed policy and decided not to support curative health work any longer. In 2005 and 2006 the grant was reduced by 50%, and since 2007 the hospital has not received any regular financial support for the running budget.

 The hospital’s poor fund covers expenses for the treatment of patients so poor that they cannot afford to pay themselves. The ELM donates an earmarked grant to the poor fund every year, since this year 2008 it amounts to 200 000 ETB.

No money is allocated for maintenance, repair or purchase of medical equipment.