Renovation of the Asmara Burn Clinic

Burn patients in Eritrea are treated at the Halibet Hospital in Asmara. Since 2000, there has been a special care center here with a spacious operating theater and a ward for approximately 20 patients. For the first time in Eritrea, severely burned patients have since been able to receive proper treatment and surgery. Around 250 surgical procedures take place here every year, some lasting several hours, and thousands more dressings are applied. Unfortunately, the majority of burn victims are children. ARCHEMED supports the burn clinic in Asmara by sending a medical team twice a year to care primarily for the most severely injured patients who require complex reconstructive procedures with extensive skin grafts.

The ward and operating theater were completely renovated and expanded between 2006 and 2008, and in 2019, a photovoltaic system was installed on the roof of the OR to compensate for the recurring power outages in the municipal grid. Unfortunately, over the years, partly due to the difficult climatic conditions, serious structural damage has occurred. For example, unusually heavy rainfall caused the roof with the mounted PV system to leak, leading to mold growth in the OR rooms and, most recently, rain even entering the operating theater itself. Responsible treatment of burned children was no longer possible in these rooms, especially since these patients in particular require impeccable hygiene due to the acute risk of infection.

As the Eritrean government was unable to release funds for the renovation of the building, ARCHEMED took on this task. Together with an Eritrean construction company, our volunteer craftsmen and technicians are repairing and renovating the roof and operating theater of the burn clinic. The roof has already been replaced and is now watertight. The walls of the OR have been cleared of mold and are being painted with a special paint. In this context, the water supply is also being renewed and a water container is being built to house a new, large water tank including a pump and water distribution system.

In October 2024, another major ARCHEMED technical mission will take place: missing gutters will be installed on the roof and the PV system will be re-mounted. The flooring throughout the entire OR area will be replaced and a new surgical light will be installed.

For 2025, ARCHEMED will also take care of the clinic’s patient wing, as the renovation of the rooms and sanitary facilities is urgently required here as well.