Friends of Kamuli Mission Hospital, Uganda

and  Help for Hospitals Africa

Uganda Childbirth Injuries Fund

Registered UK Charity No 1099135

Dr Brian Hancock is a UK surgeon who lived and worked at Kamuli in 1969.  Following his retirement in 2000 from his career as a UK colorectal surgeon, he has specialised in surgery to cure women made incontinent though injuries at Childbirth (Obstetric Fistula) visiting many countries in Africa but especially at Kamuli in Uganda.

Above he is pictured with patients who have brought gifts in gratitude for the transformation of their lives following successful surgery. Here he describes the background to his work:

In Uganda, as in other poor countries, many women deliver at home or far from any medical help.  If a woman develops obstruction in labour she needs an emergency caesarean section.  If this can’t be done she may die of a ruptured uterus or deliver a stillbirth after days of agony in labour. If this were not enough she may find that she has no control of her bladder or even her bowel.  The prolonged pressure of the baby’s head against the bony pelvis wears a hole between the bladder and vagina and sometimes the rectum.  This is called a vesico-vaginal fistula.  This will never heal, so she will be incontinent for life unless she can find someone to perform a surgical repair.

Women with this condition will visit any hospital they can but rarely find anyone who can help so they return home to a life of misery and rejection.  They also fear the fees that have to be charged by the voluntary hospitals or private surgeons.  They are usually abandoned by their husbands and give up all hope of being cured.

Dr Brian Hancock has made several visits to learn from the famous Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa and is a trustee of the UK branch of the Fistula Hospital.  In 2001 he was joined by Dr Mhari Collie FRCS, a young UK surgeon who, having seen the plight of these poor women, helped to set up a registered UK charity with the following priorities:

1. To pay for the women to have free treatment (only £150 will cover the cost for one patient!)

2. To purchase sutures and instruments which are not available locally

3. To support travel costs of those performing or learning the surgery

The charity supports a number of hospitals in Uganda but our main focus is at Kamuli where we have been joined by Glyn Constantine a Gynaecologist from Birmingham and Brenda Gray a theatre nurse. They are now taking over the work from Brian and making three visits a year operating on about 25 patients each time. We are working closely with another charity (www.ugandavillageproject.org) which is making great progress in finding patients for us, supporting them and giving education talks through the villages about prevention and treatment, using one of our cured patients as an advocate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition an announcement over the local radio informs potential patients of our visits.  More and more are coming and we can only just keep pace with the demand.  In the last 10 years we have operated on over 500 patients at Kamuli.  The cure rate depends on the skill of the surgeon and good aftercare.  We completely cure about 80% so that they can make a new start and have children again.  Others can be improved by a second operation but a few unfortunately are incurable.  We encourage and teach national surgeons wherever possible so that they can take over this work in time and we work toward prevention though education and better provision of accessible obstetric services.

If you want to learn more about this work, you can contact Dr Brian Hancock at: brian@yealand.demon.co.uk or 21 Yealand Rd, Yealand Conyers. Lancs. LA5 9SG