Kutoa Kenya: Support Coast General

Located in the heart of Mombasa is Kenya's second-largest public hospital, Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital. This hospital serves the entire coastal region of Kenya, seeing referrals from all over the country, as well as those living in Mombasa itself.

Coast General provides lifesaving healthcare to the area it serves, with it being the largest and sometimes only emergency department, surgery center, and location of different medical specialists. However, even though it is incredibly large and central to Kenyan healthcare, it is severely lacking in funding and resources. Coast General is incredibly understaffed, occasionally having one nurse responsible for over 20 laboring mothers, or one clinical officer for an entire ward of children. Needles, Betadine, anesthesia, clean sheets, and more are all precious commodities.

Patients will spend weeks and sometimes months in the hospital waiting for procedures. Because Coast General is severely lacking in resources, they will detain patients within the hospital who are unable to afford their medical costs and will not release them until the bills are covered. Alternatively, they will not provide the patient care until the patient can pay. This situation is reflected across all of Kenya.

The National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) is only $5 a month, a price that is still too high for many families. Over 7.8 million people in Kenya are living under the national poverty line, meaning they have less than roughly $8 a week to pay for necessities. At Coast General, many patients' entire medical bills can be paid for with just $10-20.

The people of Kenya are kind, hard-working, and perseverant, and those who work at Coast General even more so. During our time at this hospital, we saw just how difficult their circumstances are. Nurses are frequently buying diapers and formula for abandoned babies in the newborn unit. Patients often have to wait outside on beds, hoping they will get the help they need. Cancer patients would have to stop in the middle of their treatment due to the loss of a sponsor to pay for their screens and chemotherapy.

By donating here, you can help support Coast General and everyone who utilizes this precious resource. Every single donation will go directly to detained patients with unpaid medical bills as well as abandoned newborns who don't have families to cover the costs of supplies or medication they may need. By donating just $5 you could be paying for a month of prescription medication, treatments, screens, surgical procedures, maternal care, and more.

Healthcare is a basic human right, one we are trying to ensure every single patient at Coast General gets. Thank you so much for your donations and please share our GoFundMe with friends, family, work, school, or anywhere else you may be able to. For updates on patients and stories from fellow interns, follow us on Instagram @kutoa_kenya