IDAT Hospital
IDAT Hospital
When Suzy Kuj first came to South Sudan in 1999, she found a great need to help and provide medical care, which was basically non-existent at the time. Life was short and death was common. Malnutrition, malaria and meningitis killed many daily. Starting with nothing but praying and believing in a Mighty God, a medical care facility was begun and has grown to meet the needs of the people in the area of Tonj.
Today IDAT operates a rural Mission Hospital lead by missionary Dr. Jono Macleod and native CO Joseph Maker, along with professional staff trained through IDAT. This includes 4 clinical officers, 4 midwives, 3 nurses, a lab technician and a pharmacist. This team also trains the local Sudanese young men and women who work hard to learn to care for their people. The basic staff is also aided by doctors, nurses and other health profesionals who come from all over the world to share the love of Christ through medical missions and share the gospel with the patients and their families. The staff likes to say “meds and equipment often we have not, but through God’s strength we can do a lot.”
We are treating between 100 and 200 patients and 30-50 antenatal consultations a day. The midwives also average 45 deliveries in a month. Other services provided are wound care, burn care and minor surgeries. Emergency services are provided 24/7 and though they try to concentrate on women and children, the staff has responded in emergencies to take care of dozens of gun shot victims during the cattle wars and numerous auto accident victims.
The staff also provides immunizations for tetanus, DPT, polio, measles and BCG. Health education is provided and home visits are made. Always the Gospel is shared and the patients are prayed for. All know it is God who heals and all strive for Him to receive all the glory for the works He does through the team, whether it be the missionaries or national staff.
Services are provided basically free of charge and all funding comes from loving donors from all over the world but mainly from individual Christian brothers and sisters in the USA who support the work through their prayers and finances. We are continuing to try to expand our services and when road conditions permit, we take our mobile medical care to outlying villages, an outreach we are trying to do more frequently each year.
Above all everyone at our hospital, staff and patients, are seeking to grow daily in their relationship with God through Christ. We attend devotions and spend time in prayer together daily. We know all is useless if Christ is not known and honored. We know that we can treat, but only God heals and that He has allowed us all to see Him work miracles in our lives and in the lives of our patients. To God be the Glory.
