Report on the Twikatane (Unity) Clinic in Lusaka, Zambia

Yasufumi Takigawa
August 1986

Patients waiting for treatment. Dr. Takigawa standing.

In 1983 IRFF got permission from the city council in Lilanda, Zambia to build a medical clinic. It took almost two years, until the end of 1984, to complete the building. Although we offered to donate the building and the services of our trained medical staff to the government, the government could not take the responsibility of running it; so the facility is still owned and supported by IRFF.

From March to May 1985 I went to the Sudan to do medical service work. I also worked with the mobile medical team in Zambia for one week from the end of July to the beginning of August. Through these experiences I came to understand that free medical service is not really suitable for Africa, because many people come for treatment even though they are not sick! Therefore, we decided to make the clinic in Zambia a private one, and we started charging a small fee for services. We called it Twikatane Clinic (Unity Clinic).

The clinic has a reception area and eleven rooms, including two consultation rooms, one treatment room, one room for injections, a laboratory, and a room for physical therapy. We have one doctor (myself), three nurses, a laboratory technician, a physical therapist, and a receptionist. Generally we provide consultations, laboratory tests, and physical therapy. The main disease our patients suffer from is malaria, although diarrhea and respiratory infections are also common. There is serious malnutrition, especially among the children. The clinic is located just 15 kilometers away from the center of the capital city of Lusaka.

Mr. Zulu, our lab technician.

At first, because we were not well known, only 10 to 20 patients came each day; later the number increased very quickly to 40 or 50 a day, and then to 100. The largest number the clinic ever received in one day was 135. Each day we receive about 30 to 40 new patients; the remainder are returning or continuing patients.

Because the government cannot provide medicine for us, we are doing what we can with our own resources. We buy all our own pharmaceuticals. Our clinic has become famous in Lusaka because we are able to dispense these drugs, and people come from all over Lusaka to be treated here. We are trying to become self-supporting and we are making progress in this area.

Each day we have a big job to do. Some of the people who work at the clinic are associate church members, but most are core members. Our motto is to love God, love the people, and love the nation.

To improve the health of the people of Zambia right away we have to begin with a medical facility such as this, but a more essential and long-term task is to try to improve the level of education and the nation's economy.

A patient consults a visiting doctor.

The people are barefoot. They live in very poor buildings and don't have enough money to buy food. Fifty to 60 percent of the children cannot enter primary school, and only 10 percent can go to secondary school. Because the unemployment rate is 50 percent, crime and other social problems run rampant.

Africa cannot survive without help from abroad. Even though many African nations gained independence in the '50s and '60s, they are not economically self-sufficient. You may see big, modern buildings in cities like Nairobi, but right outside the cities you see the desperate poverty. Many countries are even poorer than Zambia.

America, Japan, and some European nations used to give money to African governments, but government officials would just take the money for themselves. Perhaps about 40 percent of the funds would actually reach the people, and even this money was not used effectively. When developed nations donated heavy machinery like tractors, for instance, they would soon become inoperable because the Africans do not have the necessary skills to maintain them.

The nature of assistance to Africa is changing now. Assisting governments outline projects clearly -- model agricultural programs, for example -- and then send their own manpower and technological resources to the countries along with their finances. They set up programs to educate the native people so that they can eventually assume responsibility and manage on their own. This is a more realistic and effective way of giving support. In the future we hope to create a nursing school in connection with our medical clinic; we even want to build a medical school one day. Thus our efforts are sure to help Zambia.