Based in rural northern Tanzania, FAME is a modern hospital, laboratory and outpatient clinic with nearly 30,000 patient visits annually. As a center of medical excellence, FAME is the go-to hospital in the Karatu District for comprehensive healthcare, including surgical care. With nearly 500 major surgeries in 2019, FAME urgently needs to renovate its second 14-bed Inpatient Ward for our growing inpatient population, equipping it with patient beds and vital medical equipment.
Nearly 20% of deaths in Tanzania result from diseases that can be treated with surgery. However, with over 1,000 hospital admissions annually, our 14-bed Inpatient Ward is often at capacity. In just the first two months of 2020, our Inpatient Ward has already admitted more patients than the entire first quarter of 2019. In order to meet the needs of our growing patient population, FAME needs a secondary post operation/overflow ward.
With the opening of our new Maternity Center in 2019, FAME can now transform the former Labor Ward (Ward 2) into a second Inpatient Ward. This will double the overnight patient capacity of our hospital to 28. Yet, the wash rooms and pipes in Ward 2 are in dire need of repair or replacement, walls need to be patched and painted, and beds and equipment need to be purchased.
Hospital admissions to FAME's Inpatient Ward have increased on average by 16.8% annually since 2013, the first full-year our hospital opened. A renovated Ward 2 equipped with patient beds and medical equipment will make a huge difference in FAME's capacity to provide safe, lifesaving surgery and postoperative care to our community - this year and well into the future.
