Kamango Hospital is in the Semiliki river valley, below the great Ruwenzori mountains, the ‘mountains of the moon’. The local geology and weather patterns means that this part of central Africa has some of the highest rates of lightning strikes globally.
Despite the hospital having a lightning conductor, the operating theatre was stuck by lightning at the end of July. Very fortunately it happened in the middle of a night when there no emergency cases so no one was hurt, but most of the equipment was destroyed and the inside of the theatre blackened.
We are sending a small amount of money to rehabilitate inside, but want to urgently raise funds to replace the destroyed operating equipment.
Give directly via our bank account, or donate here.
Fortunately the biochemistry machine bought last year with Semiliki funds and other equipment in the laboratory were unaffected. These are protected by voltage stabilisers, but these are unlikely to resist direct lightning strikes.
Meanwhile, the new laboratory building supported by Semiliki is progressing well, with walls rapidly going up on the foundations.
