Hospital de Kalukembe
Kalukembe, Angola
- Hospital Website
- https://www.healthservicecorps.org/hospitals/kalukembe-hospital/
- Mission Organization
- IESA – Igreja Evangelica Sinodal de Angola
- Profile
- Hospital de Kalukembe was started by Dr. Adolf Brechet, a Swiss missionary. The mission dates back even further to 1897 and started as a ministry to help rehabilitate ex-slaves in the then Portuguese colony. Later, Dr. Brechet came in 1942 with his young family and eventually started a church, a nursing school, a lab tech school, a leprosy hospital, a general hospital, and a medical ministry that now includes the hospital and over 15 outlying clinics. In spite of missionary doctors leaving the hospital in 1994 due to the civil war, which made it almost impossible to continue working, the Angolan nurses who remained eventually rehabilitated the hospital and the medical work continued. The hospital is currently administrated by IESA (Igreja Evangelica Sinodal), an Angolan church denomination, and partially supported by government funds and supplies.
- Hospital de Kalukembe is a district-style, 200-bed referral hospital for a catchment of over 500,000 people in a radius of around 100 km from the hospital. It is in a relatively populous rural area and is the only hospital to provide emergency surgical services in the region. Some wards, especially pediatrics, are above capacity for five months of the year and fluctuate in occupancy.
- Departments located in and services offered by the hospital include Pediatrics, Maternity, Women’s and Men’s wards, as well as Physical Therapy, TB, Emergency and a Special Care Unit. Specialty clinics include for vaccinations, HIV, adult and pediatric med/surg, OB/GYN, leprosy, TB, wound care, and ophthalmology. Additional services include dental, radiology with ultrasound and X-ray, pharmacy and laboratory. The hospital has roughly 8,000 admissions, 13,000 outpatient visits, and 2,400 surgical procedures performed, as well as approximately 250-500 C-sections and 1,000 vaginal deliveries annually.
- Travel
- Volunteers will travel via commercial airline to Luanda, Angola. From there, a domestic flight will take travelers to Lubango, where they will be met by the hospital driver. The drive from Lubango to Kalukembe is approximately three hours. At times it is possible to arrange for a mission flight from Lubango to Kalukembe if a surgical team is already traveling there.
- Time Difference
- WAT (West Africa Time) UTC/GMT +1 hour. There is no Daylight Savings Time.
- Visa
- Visa on arrival for volunteers serving up to 30 days. If planning to serve up to 90 days, an e-Visa process gives and initial 30 days with the ability to renew up to two times. Serving longer than 90 days requires a more complicated visa process.
- Climate
- Temperatures during the rainy season (November – April) are usually between 60’s-80’s F (15-28 C). Temperatures are cooler in the coldest month of July into the 40’s (5-15 C). Kalukembe is located at an elevation of 1,620 meters (5,314 feet), which makes for temperate weather throughout the year.
- Language
- The official language of Angola is Portuguese.
- Religion
- Religion in Angola is diverse, with Christianity being the most widely professed faith. Roman Catholics make up approximately 41 percent of the population with an additional 43 percent consisting of other denominations such as Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, and others. Since their independence, several Pentecostal and Evangelical churches have been established. Other “African Christian” churches exist and the indigenous Tokoist faith, as well as a small Muslim minority due to immigrants, who do not generally form a community of faith.
- Housing
- Volunteers will stay in a visitor home located approximately 500 meters from the hospital. Housing has a shared kitchen, living area, and bathroom. There are no AC units in the visitor home; floor fans are available upon request. Depending on the number of volunteers serving at any given time, it may be necessary to bring bath towels, bed linens, and pillow. Volunteers will need to bring a mosquito net; pop-up nets are recommended. The internet is quite variable in the visitor homes; electricity is usually reliable. Running water may not be available, so bucket (sponge) baths might be necessary.
- Food
- Meals are provided by either hospital staff or missionaries. Visitors have the option to cook for themselves and can request to buy groceries in Lubango prior to driving to the hospital upon arrival. Prepared meals are very simple, i.e. milk toast for breakfast, rice and beans for lunch, pasta and/or protein for dinner. Refrigeration is available in the shared kitchen. It is not possible to find specialty foods, such as gluten-free, etc. Volunteers with dietary restrictions will need to bring their own food with them.
- Medical Licensure
- No licensure required. Hospital de Kalukembe does require a copy of the volunteer’s medical diploma and residency diploma (if applicable) for their records, which need to be translated into Portuguese.
- Required Vaccines/Prophylaxis
- Yellow fever vaccination is required. Other strongly recommended vaccines include typhoid, Hepatitis A&B, and rabies. It is also recommended for volunteers to bring their own HIV prophylaxis.
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