Fetal Doppler for Levolosi Hospital
Donation protected
Fetal Doppler Ultrasound Fundraiser for Levolosi Health clinic, Tanzania
My name is Sune Victor and I'm a third year medical Student at The University of Adelaide. This year in my summer break, I decided to do a medical volunteer placement in Tanzania, Africa for 6 weeks.
I was fortunate enough to be placed at Levolosi Hospital, where they are keen on teaching medical students and showing us their way of practicing medicine. I was shocked at how much they can accomplish with the limited resources that they have. A little bit of background on Levolosi Health Clinic Levolosi Health Clinic has a large maternity department and labour ward. They service many women around the Arusha area in Tanzania. On an average day here at Levolosi, roughly 20 women give birth. I was shocked to find out that the women here have to bring their own medical supplies required for a safe delivery (gauze, delivery kit and oxytocin). There are 8 beds in post-op, 7 beds in the antenatal/waiting room for delivery, 3 beds in the labour room and a minor theatre for emergency c- sections.
Picture 1: Labour Ward
Picture 2: Theatre for emergency c-sections.
Picture 3: My first time assisting in a c-section
What we need
Despite the limited medical equipment that the doctors and nurses at Levolosi have, they are able to successfully deliver multiple babies every day. However, this is not always the case, especially when the fetus is in distress or an emergency c-sections is indicated. The fetal heart rate monitors that they use here are known as pinhard horns. These are not always reliable and it can be extremely difficult to find a heartbeat using this decive. Of the 11 times that I've attempted to listen to the fetal heartbeat, I've only been able to faintly hear it twice. It also doesn't help that the clinic is located next to a busy road and street markets. The noise during the day is often a problem.
I've noticed that many of the medical records say 136 beats/min repeatedly; this made me very suspicious and after talking to the staff I realized that even they struggle with hearing the fetal heart rates using the pinhard horn, which leads to rough estimates and guessing games. It's not a lack of knowledge or medical training, it comes down to cost. Medical equipment is expensive and often unaffordable for small health clinics here in Tanzania.
Below is a photo that shows what they use as fetal heart rate monitors.
Levolosi Health Clinic will greatly benefit from a fetal doppler ultrasound to successfully and accurately record the fetal heart rates. I believe that with this device, the women here will greatly benefit. There have been multiple times where babies were in distress for various reasons and have died because doctors were unable to detect the heartbeat, due to poor medical equipment, and therefore unable to detect that there was even a problem. I know that this is overly simplified, but many of these deaths were mostly avoidable if they had the appropriate equipment to better identify the fetal heartbeat.
During the last three weeks that I have left, I would really love to be able to fundraise and donate a fetal doppler heart rate monitor. The Clinic needs it; the doctors and nurses want it. Now, I need your help.
Please donate today. Help prevent unnecessary complications due to poor medical equipment that is unaffordable to many clinics in Tanzania. These women and their children deserve only the best medical care available.
Tomorrow, instead of buying your routine morning coffee, donate the money instead. You can contribute to providing better health care to these women. Any donations, big or small, would be greatly appreciated.
Here is a list of other medical equipment that Levolosi would also benefit from if donations exceed the cost of the doppler. -Stethoscopes (currently they only have 1) -Blood pressure cuffs (only have 1) -Thermometers -Fingertip pulse oximetry monitors (The one that they currently have in theatre cuts out during surgeries and have resulted in multiple complications).
Thank you,
Sune and the staff at Levolosi Health Clinic
My name is Sune Victor and I'm a third year medical Student at The University of Adelaide. This year in my summer break, I decided to do a medical volunteer placement in Tanzania, Africa for 6 weeks.I was fortunate enough to be placed at Levolosi Hospital, where they are keen on teaching medical students and showing us their way of practicing medicine. I was shocked at how much they can accomplish with the limited resources that they have. A little bit of background on Levolosi Health Clinic Levolosi Health Clinic has a large maternity department and labour ward. They service many women around the Arusha area in Tanzania. On an average day here at Levolosi, roughly 20 women give birth. I was shocked to find out that the women here have to bring their own medical supplies required for a safe delivery (gauze, delivery kit and oxytocin). There are 8 beds in post-op, 7 beds in the antenatal/waiting room for delivery, 3 beds in the labour room and a minor theatre for emergency c- sections.
Picture 1: Labour Ward
Picture 2: Theatre for emergency c-sections.Picture 3: My first time assisting in a c-sectionWhat we need
Despite the limited medical equipment that the doctors and nurses at Levolosi have, they are able to successfully deliver multiple babies every day. However, this is not always the case, especially when the fetus is in distress or an emergency c-sections is indicated. The fetal heart rate monitors that they use here are known as pinhard horns. These are not always reliable and it can be extremely difficult to find a heartbeat using this decive. Of the 11 times that I've attempted to listen to the fetal heartbeat, I've only been able to faintly hear it twice. It also doesn't help that the clinic is located next to a busy road and street markets. The noise during the day is often a problem.
I've noticed that many of the medical records say 136 beats/min repeatedly; this made me very suspicious and after talking to the staff I realized that even they struggle with hearing the fetal heart rates using the pinhard horn, which leads to rough estimates and guessing games. It's not a lack of knowledge or medical training, it comes down to cost. Medical equipment is expensive and often unaffordable for small health clinics here in Tanzania.
Below is a photo that shows what they use as fetal heart rate monitors.
Levolosi Health Clinic will greatly benefit from a fetal doppler ultrasound to successfully and accurately record the fetal heart rates. I believe that with this device, the women here will greatly benefit. There have been multiple times where babies were in distress for various reasons and have died because doctors were unable to detect the heartbeat, due to poor medical equipment, and therefore unable to detect that there was even a problem. I know that this is overly simplified, but many of these deaths were mostly avoidable if they had the appropriate equipment to better identify the fetal heartbeat.
During the last three weeks that I have left, I would really love to be able to fundraise and donate a fetal doppler heart rate monitor. The Clinic needs it; the doctors and nurses want it. Now, I need your help.Please donate today. Help prevent unnecessary complications due to poor medical equipment that is unaffordable to many clinics in Tanzania. These women and their children deserve only the best medical care available.
Tomorrow, instead of buying your routine morning coffee, donate the money instead. You can contribute to providing better health care to these women. Any donations, big or small, would be greatly appreciated.
Here is a list of other medical equipment that Levolosi would also benefit from if donations exceed the cost of the doppler. -Stethoscopes (currently they only have 1) -Blood pressure cuffs (only have 1) -Thermometers -Fingertip pulse oximetry monitors (The one that they currently have in theatre cuts out during surgeries and have resulted in multiple complications).
Thank you,
Sune and the staff at Levolosi Health Clinic
Organizer
Suné Victor
Organizer
Petone, NZ