The mission remains the same

Over four years after the opening of the St. John Paul II maternity hospital in Isiolo, Kenya.

The MaterCare hospital in Isiolo was officially opened on May 19th, 2012. In the nearly 5 years since, we have seen an immense growth in the number of patients the hospital serves.

Official Opening of Isiolo Hospital on May 19, 2012

Kenya’s president H.E. Mwai Kibaki opened the maternity hospital. Representatives from across the region attended the event. One senior representative of the Isiolo District stated, “I’m a mother too. What you’ve done here is incredible, a real example to the rest of the country.”

One month later on June 18th, the first baby was delivered at the newly built hospital. The first antenatal mother, a 29 year old named Sarah, was admitted June 17th due to a premature rupture of the membranes. After careful review by the doctor on staff, she was put on antibiotics and monitored closely by the hospital midwives, and at 10:00am the doctor induced labour, which progressed well. The mother, Sarah, was happy and kept on the thanking the doctor and midwives for their care. At 8pm she was in the second stage of labour, though with poor contractions and a strong effort to push. The doctor was called to review her, and he encouraged her to push with a midwife assisting. At 9:05pm Sarah was delivered of her baby boy weighing 3.2kgs (7lbs).

We had a special visit to the hospital in 2017 from Eric for a doctor’s visit, who is now 4 years old, and his mother Sarah.

In the lobby of the MaterCare Hospital, Isiolo.

Left to Right: Project Manager Simon Walley,

Mother Sarah, First Child Born in the Hospital Eric, Field Officer Katarzyna Cieślak.

“The doctors’ strike has been a source of major advertising for the hospital. Women in urgent need of care from all over the area are coming.  Not only locals but also mothers from distant villages and other large towns. Women and their families know that they are getting quality care and better conditions here at our hospital. They go and tell everyone, the numbers are really skyrocketing,” said MCI Project Manager, Simon Walley, after his recent visit to Kenya.

He continued, “Maternal deaths continue to occur. One mother had post partum haemorrhage and remained in the village for 4 days hoping to get better before someone brought her to the hospita.” The mother unfortunately died on the way.  

“This continues to be our focus. To get out to the village level with community based education which will reduce the number of maternal deaths. Preventable maternal deaths.” We continue to train and strive to help Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) to identify and refer high-risk mothers.

“The mission remains the same…live mothers, live babies. Reduce maternal mortality and morbidity. It was quite the experience walking into the hospital the first day of this visit to hear lots of crying babies. I said to Sister, ‘Crying babies are live babies’. The wards were full, delivery rooms occupied and there was 2 schedule C-sections in the operating rooms.” -Simon Walley.