CEO’S MESSAGE – MATER MATTERS DEC 2011

In 1956, a small team of Mercy Sisters from Ireland arrived in Kenya on the invitation of the then Archbishop of Nairobi, Most Rev. Dr J.J. McCarthy. Led by Mother Dolorosa, their mission was to set up a multi-racial hospital, to serve the largely indigenous African population in the Eastlands part of Nairobi.

Six years later,in 1962,The Mater Hospital was ‘born’. Close to 50 years later, their desire to provide quality, affordable healthcare and to help the underprivileged has been achieved through their efforts and those of the dedicated staff that have served The Mater Hospital through the years.

As we prepare to mark our Golden Jubilee next year, I wish to pay tribute to the founders for their foresight, to our staff for their dedication and to our customers and partners for your unwavering support.

 We have had a very successful year 2011. This is noted in the number of clients we have served at our various facilities and in the feedback you have given us. We intend in 2012 to continue investing in staff training and reinvesting in our various facilities in an effort to serve you better. We have also identified a location for our fourth satellite clinic within the Embakasi area of Nairobi, which we plan to open in the second quarter of next year.

Our various community outreach initiatives continue to benefit many. Through our Mater Comprehensive Care Clinic, we are proud to be associated with research initiatives to improve care for people with HIV. Findings from research partly conducted at this clinic appeared in the prestigious Lancet Journal (a simplified version has been carried in this newsletter).

Our new Catheterization Laboratory enabled us to offer improved cardiac services. During this quarter we collaborated with a team of doctors from the Netherlands to perform heart operations on needy Kenyan and Tanzanian children. We also partnered with doctors from Kenyatta National Hospital and the US to offer specialized treatment at highly subsidized rates to adults with heart ailments.

We are grateful to God for His blessings this year and look forward to serving you next year. On behalf of the staff at The Mater Hospital, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a prosperous year 2012.

Thank You.