Driving along the path next to Kenya's Thwake River, people will arrive at the Kathulumbi Medical Center, which was invested and built by China Gezhouba Group Corporation, a subsidiary of China Energy Engineering Group Co., Ltd. in Mbooni.
The exterior of the Kathulumbi Medical Center [Photo provided to sasac.gov.cn]
Sitting on one side of the center's reception hall was 33-year-old Marie Mwikali, who was gently singing a lullaby in Kikamba, the local language, coaxing her newly-born son Mikal to sleep. Mikal has a round head and was wearing a light green hat. His chocolate-colored skin shone under the sunshine when he smiled at the camera.
Marie and her son Mikal [Photo provided to sasac.gov.cn]
Marie came to the center to arrange vaccination for her son. "Mikal is my second child. The elder one is 10 years old. When I got pregnant for the first time, there were no maternity facilities in the region, so I had to see a doctor at the hospital in Wote Town about 40 kilometers away. Now we have a maternity center in the region, and we can give birth to a child nearby. Mikal is one of the first children born here." Over a hundred of mothers who gave birth to a child at the center had similar experiences.
"The new maternity building features 10 beds and 12 babies were born here last month," said Mercy Musau, head nurse at the maternity building, with a smile and pride. She added that "Before the building went into service, very few pregnant women came for medical services as there was a lack of infrastructure and no maternity ward." Mercy recalled that "The inpatient ward used to be mismanaged. Expectant mothers had to use the same ward with male patients and had to bear mockery from others. The situation hurt the mothers' dignity and forced them to give birth at home. Giving birth at home led to a high death rate of newly-born babies, which was a great pity."
Head nurse Musau shares pregnancy knowledge with expectant mothers. [Photo provided to sasac.gov.cn]
Mercy said with confidence that "Since the maternity building opened, our goal was to reduce childbirth at home. Currently, there are more than 100 households accepting maternity service at the medical center and I believe that there will be more women accepting professional medical service in the future without having to worry about wounded dignity."
Medical workers at the center also includes four other nurses, an experiment technician, an education expert and two volunteers. Mercy also said that "We also give health training to expectant mothers, which includes proper nutrition training and red lights during pregnancy like pressure, bleeding, tiredness and sweating etc. In addition, we talk with women who are about to experience or have just completed childbirth." She added that "Some pregnant women living far away have come to our center for professional care and childbirth since the maternity building was built."
(Executive editor: Li Zhiyong)
