The general medicine clinic
Dr. Denis Yamedogo
The clinic started operating in November 1998 and is located together with the gynaecology unit and the dental practice in a building at the AMPO Annexe orphanage for girls.
The clinic is open to the public and treats children in need whose families have no financial means to pay for medical treatment. The clinic is led by Denis Yamedogo, an African doctor. Part of his 8-man team is made up of former AMPO children who trained as nurses or medical assistants and now have the opportunity to put their skills to practice. The building has three consulting rooms and a laboratory, a room for gynaecology counselling and the dental practice. The patients wait with their mothers in the corridor and on the terrace and when things get busy, they have to queue in the street outside the clinic. We are currently treating about 2,000 cases per month, including AMPO patients. Treatment is almost free of charge, a nominal fee of €0.15 is charged per treatment. Medicines are dispensed free of charge. These are usually donations from Europe and only minimum stocks are ordered through Action Medior, financed by Sahel e. V. funds. Operating costs and staff costs for the clinic are covered by the Bonita Foundation.
Vaccination
The gynaecology unit
The gynaecology unit was opened in June 2000. It is open to the public and treats not only girls from the AMPO orphanage, but also women and girls without financial means from the surroundings and patients referred from P.P. Filles counselling service. The costs for treatment and medicine are minimal, depending on the situation of each patient. Operating costs are covered by the monthly budget of the clinic, so this facility is also financed by the Bonita Foundation.
The dental practice
Equipped with a special dental chair suitable for use in the tropics, continuing to operate for a few minutes after a power failure, the practice is the latest acquisition of the clinic complex. The practice is open for treatment four times a week for a small fee. Of course, AMPO children are treated free. The practice was opened in 2005 and is financed by Wolfgang Vorauer, a dentist from Salzburg, and Sahel e.V. funds.
Dr Vorauer with Sanata from the MIA Home, a trained dental assistant who also did her practical training in Salzburg.
The AMPO rehab centre
In front of the gates of the rehab centre
Children with severe burns have a very difficult time in Burkina Faso because there is hardly any skin grafting carried out. Every second day, children with major skin burns are bandaged under general anaesthetic, the skin grows back like a crust and the children remain lame or handicapped for the rest of their lives.
The Luetz family took matters into their own hands and donated the funds to buy the land, build and operate the rehab centre on a site just opposite the AMPO clinic.
In a separate enclosed space we have set up a sleeping area for up to six small rehab patients. The children spend three months there being treated as in-patients. Our physiotherapist Roque works with them devotedly every day.
All of these cases are weak, seriously ill children from socially disadvantaged families, in urgent need of first class treatment to put them on their feet again. Our little patients need a great deal of attention, professional treatment and high-quality nourishment, all of which is very expensive and practically no one here can afford, because we do not have health insurance and social services do not pay either.
Our colleagues in the rehab centre are often confronted with the worst and the most tragic cases. At the same time they have the unique opportunity to witness tiny miracles every day and to play their part in them. One example is the case of little Mohamed. As a result of bone tuberculosis he was extremely weak and desperately ill. He came to us and we spent three months building him up in our rehab centre. We talked to him, played with him, worked with him every day. He was given vegetables, meat, eggs and fruit (quite a rarity)! Now he can stand up by himself and rides behind his father on his moped holding on by himself. He will be able to return to school. Yes, miracles do happen.
Apart from the little in-patients our physiotherapist also treats out-patients. This costs 500 FCFA (€0.76) per child and 1000 FCFA (€1.53) per adult. Owing to its success our rehab centre is gradually becoming better known and the number of patients is constantly growing.
The land we purchased was big enough for us to build another two consulting rooms and a large waiting room. Head of the bandaging unit is now Adama Sebré, who grew up in the AMPO orphanage. After completing his nursing training and two years’ practice he has become a self-reliant young man, punctual, thorough and reliable! He treats everything from boils to burns, snake bites, eczema, accident-related injuries and suppurations. In Africa it often takes time for open wounds to heal because what they really need is air, which is not an option due to the many flies. If they are completely covered, especially during the rainy season, simple wounds can develop into serious tropical ulcers. Adama has turned into an old-fashioned field-surgeon. He is afraid of nothing and his many patients count on him.
An optical unit is due to be set up shortly in the second room. The Spanish organisation „Opticians without borders“ have offered us their machines for spectacle frames together with the appropriate training. The machines are due to arrive with the next container shipment and then we can start. Once we have mastered the art of fitting, we intend to set off in our special vehicle for the handicapped around the villages where the AMPO wheelchairs are repaired. We expect there will also be lots of spectacles to make.
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