A brief ‘’glance’’ at Beit Cure Children’s hospital

By Happiness Chirwa and Bilke Mulenga

THE Beit Cure children’s hospital is a Non-profit making health facility which offers specialized treatment in orthopedics, or children Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) and other related health services to young people below the age of 18 years.

This hospital is strategically located in Lusaka, and comprises six buildings, 54 beds, and three operating rooms.

Beit cure children’s hospital Zambia ministers to the emotional and spiritual needs of patients and their communities.

The hospital has now embarked on manufacturing things like limbs (artificial legs and arms) and wheelchairs to provide for the physically challenged young persons across the country.

Assistive paper technology technician Derrick Tembo who works in the hospital workshop explains that the hospital had come with an initiative of manufacturing limbs and wheelchairs locally.

He said wheelchairs are made from local materials and supplied to the children of cerebral pulse and other children with different leg problems who are the clients of that hospital.

Mr Tembo who is also a wheelchair for kids technician revealed in his presentation during a stakeholders’ workshop held at Beit Cure hospital recently that those wheelchairs are durable to last for a very long time.

He added that wheelchairs are manufactured specifically for each individual specification such as body size and weight.

‘’All our wheelchairs are made with specifications for each client after being examined and checked by the doctors. We always wait for doctors to give us recommendations and specifications of the wheelchair for each client. 

‘’The reason we do that is because children with cerebral pulses are usually different in body size and weight. Some can be 10 years old, but with a small body, so if we make a big space for the wheelchair it would not be good for such a child,’’ he said.

He said the wheelchairs that are manufactured from that hospital are provided to the cerebral pulse children who are the clients of that health facility in an effort to ease the burden from their families.

It is estimated that currently the hospital is manufacturing more than 3000 wheel chairs per year which are distributed to the in need children in all parts of the country.

‘’At the Beit Cure hospital we manufacture wheelchairs with different types, sizes, names and shapes. We use local materials such as waste papers, carton boxes, planks and metals among others.

‘’I can say that we use trash material, but just from those waste materials we make durable things that can stay for many years in good shape and good use,’’ he said.

Meanwhile a speech specialist at that hospital Nina Mbewe who is Speech Therapist in training, had an opportunity to explain on the subject of tongue-tights which is what people perceive to delay babies to speak.

Ms Mbewe further urged mothers of those babies who delay to speak, not to panic about it, but instead only opt to seek medical attention from health facilities.

She said the common thing among many mothers whose babies delay speaking at the age of two years is to become anxious and start going to unqualified persons to cut tongue-tights.

Ms Mbewe who is also Ear Nose and Throat in-charge explains that the speech of a baby doesn’t come from the mouth but from the brain.

She said therefore if a baby delays speaking, it’s better for the mother to take such a child to hospitals where qualified health workers can investigate the situation of a baby to conclude what could be the reason.

‘’We know that many mothers out there get concerned when a baby takes two weeks without speaking and choose to go to those elderly women in communities whom they consider to know how to cut a tongue-tight.

‘’However, our advice to those mothers is that, please go to the hospital and let medical personnel investigate and see what could be the reason with that baby,’’ she said.

The speech therapist even regretted that due to not knowing enough speaking problems by many people, some learners in many schools have wrongly been put in special classes as they perceived them to be dumb.

She explained that health workers conduct various interviews interrogate, through the situation of each baby’s background.

She further pointed out that in a normal situation a baby of one year of age should be able to utter at least one word, and then at the age of two years such a child should be able to utter at least two words.

Learning a few things from that workshop, our desire is that local people with waste materials such as papers, carton boxes, planks and metals to freely donate to the hospital to enable them continue making those wheelchairs to help the needy in the society.

On the issue of speech problems, we could also wish to see mothers with babies who delay speaking to opt for seeking medical advice from health facilities rather than choosing to use elderly people who cut tongue-tights.