“It’s really fulfilling to be able to work and make a difference to people’s
lives,” says Dr Mark Hotchkin. “We give thanks to God for the job that he’s
given us. Working in a place like this is actually why I felt called into
medicine in the first place.”
UK surgeons Andrea and
Mark Hotchkin have been serving at Guinebor II Hospital near Chad’s capital
N’djamena since it opened in 2011, sent by BMS World Mission and supported by
UK Christians. They’ve acted as doctors, surgeons, community health project
leaders and friends to the mostly Muslim population, and they’ve seen amazing
results. One key area of their work has been developing maternal health
services – essential in a country where nearly nine in every 100 babies born
die before their first birthday.
For every nine women who die through pregnancy
or childbirth in the UK, 856 women die in Chad. Traditionally, women in Chad
give birth in their homes, which are often mud-built houses with little light.
They have no medical care on hand if something goes wrong, and the nearest
hospital is often hours – or days – away. Even in cases where the solution is
simple, by the time they reach help it might be too late for them, or for their
baby.In order to prevent these needless deaths, the team at Guinebor
II is trying to encourage more expecting mothers to access the facilities
available to them at the hospital.
Dr Andrea Hotchkin is leading a maternal
health programme which involves two of the hospital’s Chadian midwives going
out into the surrounding Muslim communities to explain about the importance of
antenatal care and delivering in hospital.
The
4,200 miniature miracles born at Guinebor II Hospital so far might not be alive
if it wasn’t for the amazing commitment of people like Andrea and Mark
Hotchkin. Now that the new maternal health centre is in place and the outreach
programme is well underway, thousands more healthy mums will be able to take
their babies home with them in the coming years.
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