Inpatient Care, Outpatient Care, Mobile Clinics, Traditional Birth Attendant (TBA) Training
In 1995, Lutheran Health Care Bangladesh started with a small dedicated staff in a rental property in the southern village of Dumki. In 1997 the mission project was moved to its present site and there is an inpatient ward for women and children, an operating room, and a separate labor/delivery area. The outpatient department is housed in an adjoining wing of the building and has a central check-in/ waiting room area surrounded by the doctors’ offices, a small emergency room, a pharmacy, and the recently improved and expanded laboratory facilities. Women and children receive innoculations for diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, measles, tuberculosis, and hepatitis in the new Vaccination Room completed in 2006.
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Mobile Clinics
In early 1998 the River People Boat Project, sponsored by Normandale Lutheran Church(Edina, Minnesota) allowed LHCB to bring medical care and community development opportunities to remote villages far out in the delta. For 6 years this boat ministry served the needs of these remote villages. With improved and expanded roadways and acquisition of new vehicles, LHCB mobile clinics continue to make regular visits by van each week to even more villages. A team of five members including a doctor, nurse/technician, pharmacist, cashier and driver make village mobile clinic visits 2 days a week.
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Traditional Birth Attendant (TBA) Training
In Bangladesh 92% of pregnant women deliver their babies at home. LHCB identified the need for training midwives to improve the health of these mothers and babies during pregnancy, labor and delivery, and after delivery. The training program began in 1997, and provides two weeks of intensive training followed by monthly continuing education for the next three years. The TBAs assist safe child birth, provide pre- and postnatal care, and identify high risk complications referring these pregnant women to the hospital in Dumki for delivery. Over 300 Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) have been trained and provide a crucial link to the health of their community.