Barely a month after three Southern Baptist medical workers were murdered, the Baptist hospital in Jibla, Yemen, has reopened, the medical center’s business manager told a group of Baptist editors Feb. 7.
Although not yet operating at the same capacity as before, workers at the hospital are excited about the future, Lee Hixon told members of the Association of State Baptist Papers meeting in Charleston, S.C.
Talking with the group by speakerphone, Hixon said the 45-bed hospital opened 14 beds in three wards Feb.1 and is averaging 40 clinic patients and a half-dozen surgeries a day. Last year, hospital staff members were seeing 120 to 140 patients a day and conducting 400 to 500 surgeries a month.
The hospital, which was preparing for a transition to Yemeni administration before the killings, is operating with a little more than half its normal staffing, Hixon said.
“When we announced we would be turning the hospital over to an indigenous group, we lost about half our [contract workers]. After Dec. 30, we lost another half,” he said.
Two Yemeni surgeons, however, have joined the medical staff, according to Elias Moussa, administrative associate for International Mission Board work in Northern Africa and the Middle East. Hospital leaders also have received inquiries from four doctors in other countries interested in serving for a few months.
Complications in making the transition to Yemeni administration had left staff members feeling discouraged about the hospital’s future. The murders of Bill Koehn, Kathy Gariety and Martha Myers changed that, Hixon said.
“Two months ago, we were not very hopeful the hospital would reopen,” he said. “But God moved to reopen it.”
In the aftermath of the murders, the Yemeni government stepped in and pledged to keep the hospital open. The minister of health appointed a hospital administrator and a nursing director, both of whom have more than 20 years of experience working at the hospital.
“The agreement with the Yemeni government provides for Southern Baptist medical workers to serve,” Moussa said.
(BP)
Share with others: