Record 15,625 Patients at August Supercamp

Our August Supercamp in Kyegegwa set a new Bulamu record, treating 15,625 patients at a cost of under $5.00 each. Our partners, the Kyegegwa Local Government District in Western Uganda, turned over the campus of the Kyegegwa Health Center IV to us, which we supplemented with 30 rental tents and 2,000 chairs. We staff the camps with 200 Ugandan clinicians and support staff locally hired for the week, who are led by our “Core Team” of 40 department supervisors and leads with multi-camp experience. We offer 18 different medical treatments and services at each Supercamp, starting with outpatient consultations by our General Medicine clinicians for most patients, who are often then directed to other services.

So far in 2019 we have served 49,449 patients, for whom we have provided 74,221 treatments, a ratio of 150% or 1.5 procedures for every attendee. This unique range of services provides our patients with one-stop shopping and is attracting them from longer distances, a key reason why our patient counts have been growing steadily—a jump of 40% over the first nine months of 2018.

Highlights from Bulamu’s Surgery Team

To treat that many patients in a week, the camp must open its gates at 8 AM and continue until 6 PM or later. The Surgery Department in Kyegegwa operated through Saturday, with five surgeons performing 348 operations over six days. The table below lists the most common surgeries:

One surgery patient, Faith, had been living with an unsightly goiter in her neck for 16 years, unable to pay for private surgery because of the demands and expense of raising her family. After hearing about Bulamu from a friend, she traveled 14 hours by bus to reach Bulamu’s Kyegegwa camp, arriving at 1:00 AM and sleeping outdoors on the ground. In the morning she had a pre-op exam, was prepped for surgery, and had the goiter removed without incident. She spent the night as an inpatient and headed for home with her daughter the next day, with a radiant smile.

Stay tuned as we try to top this new record.