Hospital seeks to serve more mums

By SIM Stories | Madagascar in Southern Africa

Video still by SIM Stories East Africa.

Children are a gift.

The ability to deliver a new life into the world is one of God’s greatest blessings. But, for many women, far from medical care, giving birth can be a harrowing experience.

For the women he serves at the Good News Hospital in Mandritsara, Madagascar, “...that experience, that should be so full of joy and hope for the future, is an experience of devastation, of pain, of suffering, and maybe even of death," says program director, Dr Ted Watts.

Located in the north of the country, the hospital is the only facility offering crucial maternity care for mothers-to-be from a wide surrounding catchment area.

Obstetrician Shannon Petersen explains:

“We have a huge radius that we serve. We’re the only hospital that has the ability to give blood; we’re the only hospital that has an advanced operating theatre; we’re the only hospital, at the moment, who does caesareans in a very large radius. So, we receive women from all over – from days’ walk away – for care. We service a huge population that just wouldn’t have that care otherwise.”

And the need is only increasing. The hospital continues to strive to offer the best care they can, but they desperately need more space, more beds, and areas where they can look after the sickest patients.

Dr Watts says: “We’re envisaging an extension to our current maternity unit and a refurbishment of the existing elements of it.”

It’s the staff’s joy to journey with women through their pregnancies. Their hope is that, by expanding and improving their facilities, not only will more women be helped to give birth safely, but that more would also get to hear the Good News of Jesus.

Head midwife, Mdme Lamintsoa, smiles at the opportunity. “Here, at the hospital, we’re all about serving God because in our work we remember the salvation that Jesus Christ has given us. I really love to share this salvation with our friends [patients] who are passing through maternity. That is a great joy for me.”

Watch

Video by Adrian Butcher | SIM Stories East Africa

Pray

•Give thanks for the wonderful gift of bringing new life into the world.

•Ask for God’s good hand to be on the patients, staff and volunteers at the Good News hospital.

•Ask God to provide the resources needed to extend and refurbish the hospital’s facilities.