“Madagascar is the only country I know of where there are fewer paved roads each year than the year before,” says Jakob Adolf of the Deichmann Foundation. “So we have to come up with creative and new solutions to reach the most remote corners and the most isolated people.”
To tackle this problem, the Deichmann Foundation have donated two mobile medical clinics so we can reach even more people with vital medical treatment.
The clinics take the form of two off road trucks with shelters mounted on them and air-conditioned blow- up tents, which serve as fully-equipped treatment rooms with an operating theatre, as well as space for consultations, dental work, ophthalmology and ultrasound.
“These clinics are a complete medical suite for carrying out the valuable, life-changing medical work that we do,” explains John Greaves, HoverAid CEO. “Operations such as caesarean sections, removals of growths and mending broken bones can be undertaken. Outside the tent it might be 40 degrees, but inside it’s cool so the medical team can work for up to twelve hours a day.”
The trucks – nicknamed “Uni” and “Mog” (they are Unimogs) – also carry the medication, equipment, water, diesel and generators needed to make the clinics operational. The personnel needed to run the clinics will travel on the trucks and in two new Toyota Land Cruisers, also donated by the Deichmann Foundation. The medical staff who travel with these mobile clinics are all Malagasy volunteers who sacrifice their holiday time to work with us.
“Through this project we can open up much larger areas of Madagascar for medical services,” Jakob explains. Many Malagasy can only leave their home on foot. Some have been known to travel up to 100 kilometres to access medical help from HoverAid. Others are just too unwell to make the journey. These new mobile clinics and trucks will enable us to get closer to those in remote areas.
They will also extend our Madagascar Medical Safari (MMS) programme, providing increased flexibility, high-quality, secure equipment and additional medical interventions enabling us to reach more of the isolated communities we seek to serve, particularly in Mangabe, Ambatolahy and Beroroha.
The mobile clinics have been tested in Germany and are now being shipped to Madagascar. Check back soon to see them in action!
