It was Dr. Marcello Tonelli and Dr. Shannon Rabuka’s third medical mission visit to Kenya, Africa with Samaritan’s Purse, yet the husband-and-wife doctors were still struck by the country’s urgent need for proper health care. Patients would often avoid coming to the Kijabe Hospital until their problems were extremely serious.
“They wouldn’t come until they were literally knocking on heaven’s door,” said Dr. Rabuka.
Health care in Kenya is expensive and often inadequate. If they can afford it, some patients resort to bribery to get over-worked health care workers to treat them. Most patients, however, are too poor to view hospital as anything but a hopeless final option.
With the help of volunteers, Samaritan’s Purse World Medical Mission gives aid to people in developing countries like Kenya. Christian doctors, nurses, and pharmacists help staff clinics and hospitals that provide health care and supplies to those desperately in need.
Dr. Rabuka was startled to find herself giving anaesthetic to a patient who had broken a femur, the longest bone in the leg, over two weeks before coming to the hospital.
“He had been lying very still at home to avoid pain,” she said. “However, this only resulted in the development of a pressure sore, which became infected.”
Fortunately, the patient received the surgical care he needed, despite complications caused by the infection. Like other patients at the hospital, he received care not only for his body, but for his spirit with daily visits from the hospital chaplain.
“Several full-time missionary doctors expressed gratitude that we had come,” said Dr. Rabuka. “World Medical Mission is a big part of helping to give these amazing people a break by bringing in doctors like us who give a small piece of ourselves to help others and bring glory to God.”
By placing Christian medical personnel in service at mission hospitals and clinics around the world, and providing logistical support for our volunteers, World Medical Mission aims to open doors to the Good News through quality, compassionate medical care.
A medical ministry of Samaritan's Purse, World Medical Mission places volunteer medical personnel in short-term service in mission hospitals and clinics in the developing world, providing critically-needed resources as a witness of God's love. Your gift will help us fulfill this mission.