A Rural Hospital Regains Surgical Capacity for 50,000 Patients a Year
In the first twelve months after the shipment, the hospital performed over 1,200 surgeries — ranging from emergency C-sections to hernia repairs and appendectomies. Zero patients were turned away for lack of equipment. The hospital estimates that 50,000 people now have access to surgical care within 30 minutes of their homes, compared to the previous three-hour journey. The new sterilization equipment also reduced surgical site infections by 45%.
The Challenge
Mbingo Baptist Hospital serves a catchment population of over 50,000 people across rural Kakamega County. For years, the hospital's surgical department had been non-functional — its only anesthesia machine had broken beyond repair, surgical instruments were rusted and incomplete, and the patient monitors had stopped working. Patients needing surgery were forced to travel three hours to the nearest regional hospital, a journey many could not afford or survive. The hospital was turning away 15-20 patients per month who needed urgent surgical care.
The Solution
Project C.U.R.E. organized a cargo shipment containing a refurbished anesthesia machine, two patient monitors, a complete set of surgical instruments, surgical lights, sterilization equipment, and essential consumables. The shipment arrived in March 2023, and within two weeks the surgical department was fully operational. C.U.R.E. also coordinated a training visit from a volunteer surgical team to ensure local staff were comfortable with the new equipment.
“We went from having no surgical capacity at all to performing life-saving operations every day. The day our first patient went home healthy after an emergency surgery — that was the day we knew everything had changed.
Dr. Samuel Kiprop Chief Surgeon, Mbingo Baptist Hospital
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