About Us

Soddo Christian Hospital opened in January, 2005, under the ownership of St. Luke’s Health Care Foundation of Winfield, IL. The nonprofit foundation aims to provide desperately needed health care, given with compassion in the name of Jesus Christ. You can become an important part of this acclaimed medical ministry.

Background

Soddo Christian Hospital is the second mission hospital in the region; the first, an SIM mission hospital, was taken over by the Ethiopian government in 1974.

Read more about how God worked to build the hospital in an excerpt of “Today’s Decisions — Tomorrow’s Destiny,” an autobiography of Dr. Harold Adolph, who helped found the hospital.

Location

The hospital is located in Soddo, a city of roughly 80,000 people in southwestern Ethiopia, about 200 miles from Addis Ababa. (330 km) The Wolaitta region, which has about 2.5 million people, is one of the most populated and impoverished areas in Ethiopia.

Services

The 120-bed hospital provides a range of medical, surgical, dental, maternity and pediatric care. The facility is licensed for 199 beds.

It supplies diagnostic imaging, physical therapy, a laboratory, pharmacy, optometry clinic, dental clinic and four operating rooms.

There are five wards, including one for general surgery, one medicine and pediatrics, one obstetrics and gynecology, one for orthopedic surgery, and a surgical recovery/intensive care unit. An additional ward is in planning stages.

Common diagnoses include tumors and cancers, infection, trauma, deformities, malaria, tuberculosis, pregnancy complications, and mossy foot, a form of elephantiasis. HIV is not a uncommon problem (about 8%) in this rural area of southwestern Ethiopia.

The 140-member staff is made up of Christian Ethiopian doctors and workers, aided by expatriate specialists.

What Has the Project Already Accomplished?

 

1. We have opened our first 120 beds for inpatient treatment.
2. Eight of twelve major hospital buildings are finished. These include the; A. Surgical wing with four operating rooms: B. The emergency department with X-ray, laboratory and intensive care departments: C. Two surgical wards: D. A maternity unit: E. A pediatric ward: F. A building which houses the kitchen, staff dining, laundry and morgue: G. Two generator houses: and F. Two staff expatriate houses and three duplex units.
3. Our first three Ethiopian doctors have been accepted for a 4 and 5 year advanced eye surgical training. An eye team of specialist came to the hospital in October 2004 for subsidized treatment of the poor.
4. Mossy Foot patients receive treatment at the hospital. An active surgical program currently performs about 3-4 operations a month for these patients for the purpose of their rehabilitation.
5. We have had visiting specialists with us for training and updating our staff. They have been in the specialties of anesthesiology, general surgery, laparoscopy, nursing, geriatric medicine, laboratory science, biomedical engineering, X-ray, sterilization, electric generators and electrical systems, dentistry, architecture and computer science.
6. A good water supply was located 127 meters below the surface with a very good water flow. A second well was recently dug and the pump will be installed this Summer
7. Fifteen large sea containers have brought equipment and supplies from Switzerland and the United States.
8. We have had a European director based in Switzerland whose principle work is fund raising for construction and the acquisition of equipment.
9. We have developed partner relationships with The Pan African Christian College of Surgeons, John's Hopkins Medical Center. Samaritan's Purse assists with supplies and staff monthly support, and equipment repair.
10. Two OB-GYN surgeons will join us this year and another is making application for the following year. One general surgeon hopes to join SCH this next year and another the following year. A pediatrician will join us in another year as well. An ER specialist is in the process of application