Right, so in the middle of nowhere, Zimbabwe, there is this hospital that somehow works. Mount Darwin, a farming area way up north near Mozambique, has the Karanda Mission Hospital. It is run by the Evangelical Church of Zimbabwe. The place is basically holding the line while the country's entire public health system falls apart. A patient named Tendai Chambati, from Harare, said she had no other options that she could afford before going there. The medical director is a Canadian doctor named Paul Thistle. They also run a cervical cancer screening program called the Madiro initiative.
The whole situation is bleak everywhere else. Government hospitals have no staff, and health workers flee the country for better pay. This has created a massive brain drain. Karanda ends up treating thousands of people from all over Zimbabwe and even neighboring countries. Families camp in tents outside because it is cheaper than traveling back and forth. The hospital has to import most of its medicines from other countries. It manages to handle serious surgeries and chronic diseases with a small team, including a few doctors from overseas.
They do not hide the religious vibe at all. A local church elder, Charles Gurusa, stated that their main goal is preaching salvation. There is a chapel and Christian radio playing all day. The hospital was started to support church clinics. Its whole thing of mixing prayer with medicine. For a lot of rural people with no power or clean water, it is the only option that does not totally suck.
The whole situation is bleak everywhere else. Government hospitals have no staff, and health workers flee the country for better pay. This has created a massive brain drain. Karanda ends up treating thousands of people from all over Zimbabwe and even neighboring countries. Families camp in tents outside because it is cheaper than traveling back and forth. The hospital has to import most of its medicines from other countries. It manages to handle serious surgeries and chronic diseases with a small team, including a few doctors from overseas.
They do not hide the religious vibe at all. A local church elder, Charles Gurusa, stated that their main goal is preaching salvation. There is a chapel and Christian radio playing all day. The hospital was started to support church clinics. Its whole thing of mixing prayer with medicine. For a lot of rural people with no power or clean water, it is the only option that does not totally suck.
