Keep Fermathe Hospital open

The night of January 12th 2010, most hospitals within Port au Prince either collapsed or were overloaded right after the earthquake. Injured patients with all types of fractures, some in shock were rushed to the Fermathe’s Hospital at the Baptist Haiti Mission, further away from the epicenter. So many lives were saved as I witnessed the goodwill of wonderful people, local providers and missionary foreigners, working together under very difficult circumstances. For four months, I volunteered taking care of the earthquake victims and witnessed it firsthand. That small hospital, for over 6 decades has been a refuge for those who otherwise, would have stayed home and wait for their fate. It is considered by the locals who can’t afford being sick, as a treasure. It serves a population of over 200,000 people.




Today, the hospital faces financial hardship related to an abrupt change in funding sources. If the administration is not able to secure adequate resources in the near future, it will be forced to close. The consequences would be dire. In a place where good care is either scarce or nonexistent, the hospital is a haven of essential health services. Can you imagine having no place to go if you are ill? To have blood work performed? Not being able to fill a prescription? To receive prenatal care? To have no where to take a family member if they were in an accident? To safely deliver a baby? We are more aware than ever of the acute and critical need for health care. The news of their financial crisis was heartbreaking. For me personally, years spent working at the hospital helped shape me into the physician I am today. The community clinic I operate in Qui Croit relies on patient referrals there for those cases more complicated than we can serve. But the greatest devastation will be at the level of the community where people will simply no longer have physical or financial access to care. And so we are mobilizing, recruiting resources and seeking those who would come alongside the hospital in their time of need. While they are working diligently for a more reliable and sustainable long term solution, the hospital truly needs your financial support to continue to provide care.




To provide some perspective, the Fermathe Hospital has a capacity of 60 beds. It has two well equipped operating rooms with an average of 22 operative cases and 40 deliveries per month. Its outpatient clinic sees an average of 1334 patients a month, with an additional 620 patients through their dentistry clinic. The radiology units perform approximately 132 xrays/month, and 98 ultrasounds monthly. The lab performs 1,554 tests/month to allow diagnosis and appropriate treatments for patients. The hospital also operates a critical public health program in preventative care areas. Over a year period, 9000 women enrolled in the family planning program. 17,000 children (aged 0 to 5) receive immunizations and 9000 are under nutritional surveillance. A number of 2000 prenatal visits are performed yearly. Additionally 700 HIV/AIDS patients receive antiretroviral treatments.




We are very grateful for the personnel working hard day and night in difficult conditions to provide a great spectrum of health services to the community. Dynamic and resourceful, they find a way to accomplish so much with so little. They all deserve the appreciation, from the janitorial crew to the medical staff, the doormen to the administration. The hospital personnel counts seventy salaried staff including 9 physicians, 7 volunteer physicians on call and 24 nurses.




By comparison to most facilities, the operating budget of the hospital is very modest; approximately $45,000-50,000/month. The hospital generates approximately $20,000 monthly via fees within reach of those it serves. The difference of $30,000 prior to earlier this past month was provided by a third party which abruptly parted ways. They are urgently looking for enough funding for now to be able to care for the patients while working on a long-term more sustainable approach. Please join with me to help keep the hospital running. Your donation, 100% of it, will allow them to pay the staff and cover their usual hospital expenses.




In our Haitian Creole, they say MEN AMPIL, CHAY PA LOU: many hands, the load becomes lighter. If many of us can contribute in a small way, we will collectively lift this hospital out of financial peril and enable it to continue providing life saving services to the local community.




The data was submitted by the current Director of the hospital, Dr Rudolph Magloire and the President of the Baptist Haiti Mission, Dr Daniel Jean Louis.







Prepared by Claude Louis, MD