Pop Up Clinics
The cost of medical treatment is prohibitive for the poor of Soroti Town and District. Soroti Baptist Medical Centre provides healthcare for 7 Child Development Centres (CDC’s), where the education and health for 300 children in each are supported by financial sponsors from the West. Since only one child from each family can be sponsored, there are over 8,000 family members, from mainly peasant farming families, who are forced to rely upon haphazard care from local health centres and hospitals. SaltPeter Trust are raising funds to establish pop up clinics in rural areas around Soroti. We plan 2-3 visits per year (July ‘19, Jan and June ’20) from a team of UK based medics and administrators, working with and training staff from the Medical Centre to screen and provide free treatment for children of villagers, who find travel and treatment costs prohibitive. July 2019 to March 2020 SPT held 10 Pop Up Clinics in and around Soroti offering free treatment for the rural poor in late 2019 and early 2020. Supported by the Wales Government ‘Wales and Africa’ Grant scheme, a UK team made 3 visits, and worked with a local team of medical staff. We were able to treat over 3000 local residents, providing free medication thanks to the grant we received. The clinics helped SaltPeter Trust to develop closer links with the local Village Health Teams, promote Soroti Baptist Medical Centre, and to provide training in the identification of childhood cancers. Several serious cases if children needing surgery and SaltPeter Trust have been able to fund surgery in Sototi and Kampala. Covid-19 interrupt plans for further clinics, but work continues at the Medical Centre offering low cost, first class treatment to all who visit. |