Magbenteh Community Hospital (MCH) began construction in 2002 to serve the local communities in a country severely lacking in healthcare infrastructure. The facility was finally inaugurated in 2006 in the presence of the late President T. Kabba.
The hospital currently has 100 beds for in-patient services with a Children’s Ward, Maternity Ward, Male and Female wards, an Isolation ward for infectious diseases as well as an Out-Patient Department.
During the past 5 years the hospital has experienced many instabilities but determination and resilience prevailed. Some of the highlights include:
- In June 2012, the Swiss Rotary Club of Nyon-La Côte donated two ultrasound scanning machines to the hospital.
- In 2013 the hospital received an improved supply of electricity, as a result of a visit from His Excellency Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma, President of Sierra Leone.
- Financial assistance from Addax and Oryx Foundation enabled SSLDF to construct a new Out-Patient Department (OPD) which opened in April 2014.
- The last quarter of 2015 saw the reopening of the Children’s Ward with financial support from the Edwards Lifesciences Foundation and CAF America.
- In October 2016 solar powered security lights were installed within the hospital compound to ensure patients and staff can move around safely during the hours of darkness.
The Maternity Ward
In 2015, Sierra Leone had the highest maternal mortality rate in the world with 1,360 deaths per 100,000 live births. Our renowned reputation for maternal care in the Northern District is a result of the continuous antenatal programme provided by our dedicated staffs. For example, our midwives facilitated 2,013 deliveries in 2015; a 56.6% increase compared with 2014.
The Children’s Ward
We offer free medical care to children under the age of five, with an attendance average of 8,000 in-and-out patients for the past five years. The most frequent cases currently treated in the ward are malaria, typhoid, pneumonia, measles and anaemia. The vaccination services provided to the under-fives include BCG, OPUO and PCV with other inoculations offered on National Immunisation days. For more information about our main charity programme take a look here.
Stabilisation Centre
This specialised ward served children who were severely malnourished. Unfortunately, despite the country’s chronic malnutrition rate of 30% for children under 5 in 2014, this therapeutic feeding centre has not re-opened since the Ebola epidemic. The team who worked in this centre all very sadly died from the virus, therefore new staff now need to be hired and trained as well as funding acquired, before this facility can reopen.