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Safe Haven : Tusekelemo Medical Centre
By Fiona Clements
You swerved to
avoid a wobbly cyclist, rolled the car and now you’re in the ditch
along the Great North Road, with your child bleeding copiously after
being thrown from the car. It’s dark and lonely.
Never fear. You’re
less than an hour from Mkushi, and in friendly Mkushi you can find a
safe haven : the Tuskelemo Medical Centre. Such was the situation
for a Zambian couple in 2001, shortly after the Medical Centre
opened. They had been taking their children to Chengelo boarding
school when the accident occurred. They were apparently amazed and
touched to find that a radio appeal for blood donors in the Mkushi
farm block community resulted in the immediate appearance of eight
local farmers with 0 positive blood, willing to donate for the
accident victim. One of the donor-farmers apparently took the
precaution of bringing a bottle of whisky to fortify the various
donors, lest a cup of tea was not forthcoming in the middle of the
night.
 This
is the kind of community spirit that led to the formation of the
Medical Centre in the first place. It was the initiative of Dr Frank
Le Bacq and long-term resident farmer, Barton Young that got things
going in 1999. At that time the only real option for medical care in
an emergency was the Mkushi District Hospital, woefully understaffed
and undersupplied. The community was very much interested in
developing a high quality Medical Centre and Dr Le Bacq, with a lot
of local experience both in organizing and delivering health care,
was just the sort of doctor who could say what was needed.
However, it would
be the community that would have to back the whole endeavour, with
hard work and with the obvious : money. Each farmer was approached
for $2000 and $37,000 was immediately raised. Fortuitously, the
Lemminkainen-Hojgaard-Schultz contracting company had recently
finished their section of the Great North Road, and some of their
buildings in Mkushi boma were for sale. Andy Duncan-Anderson did
some hard bargaining and managed to get the pre-fabricated
administration building for $45,000. Don Stacey was squeezed for a
“loan” to cover the deficit. In fact it seems many community members
have been persuaded to make “loans” over the years! The late Mkushi
Council secretary Mr A K Tembo, approached by Andy, was very
supportive in facilitating the land survey to get the title and a 99
year lease. The project was underway. The admin building had to be
converted into a medical facility, with attention to the
installation of easily cleaned floors (Don Stacey reaches into his
pocket again) and a fully equipped operating theatre. While Dr Le
Bacq approached his contacts in Leuven for equipment and donations,
community farmers sorted out the bore holes, the power supply,
security, legal issues and a hundred other crucial details. How
many bags of maize and soya does it take to build a medical centre?
The Mkushi farm block community can probably give you a very good
estimate!
The Medical Centre
was opened just two years after its conception, on 30 March 2001, by
the Honourable Enoch Kavindele, then Minister of Health. Among the
binders full of correspondence concerning the Medical Centre is a
letter from Dr and Mrs Le Bacq to Barton and Yvonne Young, with whom
they had worked so closely to bring the Medical Centre into being;-
“Dear Yvonne
and Barton,
Thank you so
much for helping to make our dream come true.
Yvonne, thanks
for lending us Barton all the time.
Barton, thanks
for putting up the curtains on the screens.”
The Le Bacqs have
moved on now, to Australia, but their legacy remains with the Mkushi
community. Look around the Medical Centre today and you will see a
smart, clean white building that contains consultation rooms,
reception, a pharmacy, a laboratory, a fully equipped operating
theatre, a small intensive care unit, a labour room and six
inpatient beds. Look next to the main building and admire the
building next door that houses a spacious X-ray facility, with
endoscopy, electrocardiogram and obstetric ultrasound capability.
This attractive brick building, a sturdy generator and several
pieces of equipment were made possible by grants from the Beit
Trust, which supports many worthwhile endeavours in Zambia, Zimbabwe
and Malawi. David Moffat continues to be a local representative for
the Beit Trust. Many local companies have supported the effort.
Insurmountable difficulties have been surmounted by Costain Chilala,
another influential local farmer who now chairs the Board of
Trustees for the Medical Centre.
In fact, the whole
community now has a facility that they can use and be proud of. Of
course, because nothing is for nothing, there are user fees : both
low cost and high cost.
At the moment
patients are seen by either one of the two Clinical officers or by
one of the two doctors who now staff the Medical Centre.
I’m told that
Tusekelemo means “Rejoice in what we do”. When I drive up to the
Medical Centre, past the waving palm trees and admire Marianthe’s
and Maggie’s gorgeous herbaceous borders I think Tusekelemo should
mean “Rejoice in what you see before you”.
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February
2007