As many as two dozen Omaha doctors are planning to volunteer at a women's hospital that an Omaha nonprofit group is building in Kenya.
Most of the doctors are obstetrician-gynecologists, said Dr. Linda Collins, who is helping organize the physicians.
The doctors will provide training to Kenyan physicians on use of fetal heart monitors and other equipment that Nebraska hospitals have donated, Collins said. The Omaha doctors also will provide training on performing hysterectomies and other gynecological surgeries.
Collins hopes to have volunteer doctors at the hospital when it opens and every few months for at least the first year of operation.
Donations from Kenya and Nebraska are paying the construction costs, and the hospital is being equipped entirely with supplies donated by Nebraska hospitals. Valmont Industries has shipped the equipment at no cost.
Hospitals that have donated equipment include Methodist Hospital, Alegent Health, Fremont Medical Center and BryanLGH Medical Centers in Lincoln.
The hospital is being built in Naivasha, Kenya, and Collins visited there last month.
She said babies are now delivered at an overcrowded general hospital. She said it's not unusual for two women and their newborns to share one bed.
There is a single delivery room where often two women deliver at the same time, she said. The room is so cramped, there isn't room for family members to be with women during labor.
The need for the women's hospital is becoming more urgent because the population of Naivasha has been growing significantly, said Cindy Berkland, organizer of the Omaha nonprofit group that is leading the construction effort.
The existing general hospital is now delivering 600 babies per month, up from 400 per month about three years ago.
The first phase of the hospital could open within six months, depending on fundraising, Berkland said.
The first phase includes birthing rooms, operating rooms and a newborn intensive care unit.
Construction of the 88-bed hospital started in 2007 and the first phase of the project is more than halfway completed, Berkland said. The total cost of the hospital is estimated at $1.3 million and so far, she said, $600,000 has been raised.
Berkland, a nurse, got the idea for a women's hospital while volunteering in Kenya in 2004. She saw too many cases where newborns died because the proper care and equipment were not available. She and her husband, Rich, vice president of international sales for Valmont, launched the initiative with a Kenyan business associate and friend, Igal Elfezouaty.
Contact the writer:
444-1122, michael.oconnor@owh.com
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