Restore Health
UGANDA
What is Albertine Hospital?
Albertine Hospital is a medical clinic in the rural and medically underserved city of Kisiita, Uganda. It is the only medical care available to this collection of villages, home to roughly 50,000 people. It was founded in 2019 by a Ugandan doctor, Hilary Tumwesige, and his wife, a nurse, Lillian Obbo. Thanks to generous donations, the medical clinic they started has been transformed into a hospital with a staff of 3 doctors and 4 nurses. Roughly 500 patients visit each month with fantastic outcomes. Even so, the hospital is still in urgent need of several basic renovations, equipment, and machines.
Origin of the Dream
The Origin of the Project
13 years ago, 15-year-old Hillary Tumwesige was stuck in a juvenile prison, accused of a murder he did not commit, but out of this dreadful place, his dream of becoming a doctor was born. When he or one of his fellow inmates fell seriously ill, they would travel long distances to see a doctor. Almost every time, they would spend an entire day waiting and not be seen by a medical professional.
There, he made a promise to God that if he ever got out of prison, he would become a doctor and provide quality care to the underserved.
While finishing his medical school internship at Hoima Hospital, he noticed that patients they received from the village of Kisiita had horrible outcomes. Nearly all of them died, and he soon found out why. The community was over an hour and a half away by car and required a journey across bumpy, washed-out, dirt roads. Furthermore, villagers had very limited access to transportation. Thus, by the time they would arrive to Hoima Hospital, their chance of survival was greatly diminished. Hilary recognized that this was his opportunity to fulfill the promise he had made to God all those years ago. Upon receival of his medical license, he packed up and started a medical clinic in Kisiita, designed to serve the underserved!
Why Our Help is Needed
The prices of the clinic are catered to the financial capabilities of its patients. Thus the hospital only brings in enough money to pay staff wages and pharmaceutical restocking. Big-ticket medical equipment is unaffordable and requires outside funding. Past donations have drastically improved the hospital, but it still lacks many basic elements. To learn more about what is still needed, visit our "where we are going" page!
The Dream Aligns!
His dream aligns with the advice of USAID (United States Agency for International Development), who conducted a study of Ugandan healthcare in 2011 and recommended healthcare privatization as a means to improving its quality. Currently, 71% of medical care in Uganda is provided by the public sector. Though the government tries hard to provide quality clinics throughout the country, that ideal hasn’t been realized. Public health centers are overcrowded, understaffed, and unequally distributed, leaving millions of Ugandans with either a very primitive form of care, or no care at all.
