Kenya: Mater Hospital Nairobi, celebrates 50 years

Bishop Dominic Kimengich

Bishop Dominic Kimengich of Lodwar Catholic Diocese celebrated a special Mass in thanksgiving for the golden jubilee of the Mater Hospital in Nairobi on September 22 in the hospital's grounds.

Bishop Dominic expressed sincere thanks to the Sisters of Mercy and in particular the founders, two of whom were present at the ceremony. He encouraged the hospital in its mission "to be a leading healthcare provider in East Africa and a benchmark against the highest attainable world standards seeking continuous improvement".

The Sisters of Mercy nuns arrived from Dublin in 1957. They had to contend with unfamiliar cultural customs. Naked Maasai warriors queued for their paracetamol; it was different from Ireland.

Right from the beginning the Mater was a multiracial hospital during the colonial era, so as to provide health care to all, including Africans, who could not be treated in the leading hospitals at the time because of the colour of their skin. It is located in the current industrial area of the city which previously was where all the Africans lived.

The Mater is the third largest hospital in Nairobi, providing service in a wide range of specialties and with a particular name in paediatric heart surgery. The Mater Heart Run, the leading charity run in Kenya, is an annual event on the local marathon calendar.

The Catherine McAuley School of Nursing at the hospital aims to produce the same quality nurse that the Mater in Dublin has provided for the past 150 years.

The school is named after the foundress who, together with other great women, sought to combat the scourge of cholera in Dublin in the 1850s.

Continuing tradition, the Mater in Nairobi offers medical services in Lodwar and a hospital in Kitui, both of them the poorest and most remote areas of the country. As often happens, these hospitals provide a service where government services do not reach. They bring hope to thousands of mothers and children.

Provincial Leader of Sisters of Mercy in Kenya, Sister Fletcher thanked the Catholic Church hierarchy in the country for their support. "With this support, we have been able to undertake our health mission among the Kenyan people effectively," she said.

Among the guests included former Kenya's Vice President, Mr Moody Awori and Irish Consul in Nairobi, Joe O'Brien.

Source: CISA/ICN