The importance of a vehicle
In Hoima a vehicle is very important. Especially when you’re involved with healthcare and running a maternity clinic (and one where you offer referrals!). Unfortunately it is also a very costly thing to have to organise, especially when you have to hire a local vehicle and driver. This is exactly what we had been doing since February when our clinic in Runga first opened. We also had to rent a local ambulance if we need to collect a mother being referred to Azur.
Without a vehicle things have been difficult
During a referral the mothers need to come up the hill on a boda (motobike taxi) and meet the ambulance at the top. The ambulance doesn’t have the ground clearance to negotiate the poor roads to the village.
All of this was costing us nearly £500 per month. Transportation is an essential part of our monthly costs to reduce the risks of obstructed labours and ruptured uterus, a very common problem in rural Ugandan villages.
A life-changing donation
But thanks to an incredibly generous donation last month we have been able to purchase a vehicle outright. Not only this, but we have a sponsor who wishes to cover driver and fuel costs each month too. This means MAMA now only needs to cover servicing and repairs. The new vehicle can negotiate the bad roads day and night, and be able to offer our staff a safer journey to the clinic.