Our past projects

Creating a newborn ward in Uganda

When Unni volunteered to 'improve' the newborn baby ward in Mbarara Hospital in Uganda, he found that there was not one there to improve! However, with some good will and a local carpenter, that all changed.

Delivering piped oxygen to 3 Children's wards

The 3 Children's wards in Mbarara Hospital shared one unreliable oxygen supply. With some large oxygen cylinders, cheap rubber tubing, and a lot of enthusiastic help he built a reliable centralised system that delivered piped oxygen to every bed, including a breathing system (CPAP) for the newborn ward.

Toilets for school girls

Open defecation is not only a medical health hazard, but it robs children of dignity and privacy, perhaps most impacting on young girls. For just £500 we employed a local builder to construct a 3-cubicle toilet for a whole school community.

Directing a new hospital in Lesotho

When the new QMMH Lesotho National hospital opened as a Public-Private Partnership, Unni was approached to be its Medical Director. He accepted this on the terms that he did so as a volunteer, to maintain his total independence. During his 18 months stay, it flourished, petty corruption was stifled, and the overall patient mortality fell by nearly 50% (and the first very premature infants survived).

Urine microscopy to diagnose UTIs

Laboratory culture of urine is relatively slow and expensive for diagnosing urinary tract infections (UTIs), and urine stick-tests are unreliable in infants, and expensive. Malcolm has promoted the use of microscopes on the ward to diagnose UTIs promptly and reliably. Microscopes are already used widely on wards to detect malaria parasites.