Messages from Max Kooijmans

A perhaps less well-known operation that the doctors and surgical officer in LHMC often perform are skin grafts. Due to poverty, many people postpone their visit to the hospital for a long time, which means that we invariably receive patients with chronic wounds. So was Mohamed, whose leg wound was seriously inflamed after months of delay. To fight inflammation,…

Another well-deserved employee of the month: Dr. Elijah Charles, the first Sierra Leonean doctor at Lion Heart Medical Center. Elijah was one of the best students of his year, but while most medical graduates prefer to stay in the city, he chose to work in the countryside. The medical needs of the…

The month of July was a record month for the hospital. Since we keep the statistics in the current way (early 2020) it has never been so busy in the hospital. It was running and flying for the employees in all departments. For example, we have seen more than 800 patients at the outpatient clinic (excluding the 250 women…

We regularly see patients with wounds that will not heal due to diabetes. For example, Fanta (40) came back to Lion Heart for a few months because a small wound on her foot had completely escalated. The uncontrolled blood sugar had damaged the nerves in her foot, prevented wound healing and attracted bacteria. Unfortunately, in the end we had to…

In recent months, patients have not only come and gone, but we have also had to say goodbye to a number of familiar faces: longtime driver Abdul Larkoh (better known as Zaro) will fully focus on his successful entertainment center, Janneke has completed her training as a tropical doctor and doctor Hasan…

Our hospital is one of eleven worldwide where Dutch doctors who specialize in international health and tropical medicine (AIGT) do their final internship. Under the guidance of our doctors, they learn a lot, but at the same time they also form an indispensable part of our team in the departments and help all training and outreach…

Abdulrahman's friendly smile is the first thing many patients and visitors see when they arrive at the gate. The security team plays a crucial role in the hospital: they not only ensure our safety, but also manage the flows of patients and visitors and check that all systems…

Last month, the internship coordinator of the university program Clinical Health Officer came to visit Bo. Every year we receive a group of students from the program for their final practical internship, in which they gain as much clinical experience as possible under supervision before they start working independently in a clinic or hospital…

In recent months we have seen an increase in trauma patients in the hospital. Most patients have fractures of the lower leg or upper leg, as a result of motorcycle accidents. There are few hospitals in Sierra Leone that can provide care for complex leg fractures and we at Lion Heart are doing our best to provide this.…

The project proposal was written in 2022 and fortunately it is now at the beginning of 2023: we can start building our 'guardhouse'! The distance to the hospital is an impediment for many patients, which will become even worse when the roads become impassable again in the rainy season. In the…