Black Lion Hospital
The Black Lion Hospital is the largest hospital in Addis Ababa. Each day more and more patients arrive from this ever growing city in need of treatment.
Medical care for disabled people in Ethiopia is poor but perhaps a greater challenge is the social stigma associated with having a disability. Often it is perceived as a curse from God and this creates an impossible barrier to being an accepted and participating member of a community. Very few disabled children have access to school and many become prisoners in their own homes, locked away by their ashamed parents.
The hospital is an important place, not just because of the sheer volume of patients they treat, but also because it is the Addis Ababa University teaching hospital. There is currently only one doctor per 35,493 people in Ethiopia. It is at the Black Lion that a new generation of Ethiopian doctors and nurses are being taught the essential medical skills and procedures needed to go on and save many lives. Ethiopiaid believes these students should be given the best possible start.
The hospital facilities are under tremendous pressure and the staff struggle to manage on an extremely limited budget. Vital medical supplies and equipment are an ongoing need for the hospital and Ethiopiaid has been helping to provide these since 2000. However, there are more fundamental problems.
Currently, patients have to be treated in the most appalling conditions. The hospitals ventilation system no longer works. Warm, wet air from the kitchens and laundry rooms cannot escape and consequently these rooms are rife with thick black mould.
This is a huge hygiene risk and Ethiopiaid is committed to solving this problem so that all can benefit. To begin this process, construction for a new kitchen is to commence in 2007, funded by Ethiopiaid.