Roundup: Kenya's disabled persons to set up spinal injury rehab center
- SongChen
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail Xinhua, August 18, 2012
Roundup: Kenya's disabled persons to set up spinal injury rehab center
by Peter Mutai
NAIROBI, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Paraplegic Organization (KPO) will begin the construction of the first ever Spinal Injury Rehabilitation Center in Kenya using the 870,000 U.S. dollars that has so far been raised in the Bring Zack Back Home Campaign.
KPO, a local charity working for persons living with traumas of a spinal cord injury in Kenya said in Nairobi on Friday the amount was raised by the public and corporate organizations in the first phase of a 60-day campaign which ran from June 9 to Aug. 7.
"Zack is the personality that we used to embody the trauma of spinal cord injury in Kenya," KPO Board of Trustee Chairman Peter Arina told a news conference in Nairobi on Friday.
"This campaign has managed to create great awareness both locally and internationally and all funds and resources raised through this initiative will be directed towards the construction of the first ever Spinal Cord Rehabilitation and Trauma Center in the East and Central Africa," Arina said.
In June, KPO launched public campaign dubbed Bring Zack Back Home to raise 3 million U.S. dollars for the construction of a rehabilitation center for spinal cord injury victims.
The initiative, which is backed by Safaricom Limited in partnership with mainstream media and other key stakeholders is a public campaign intended to mobilize resources and fund-raise in favor of the ongoing construction of the first and only Rehabilitation and Trauma Center in Kenya.
Arina said the ground breaking for the Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Center is slated to take place in September on a 12 acre piece of land situated in Kiserian, about 40 km south of Nairobi, purchased by KPO.
Once completed, the Rehabilitation and Trauma Center is expected to provide quality, affordable and comprehensive health care for spinal cord patients.
Presently, the nearest rehabilitation center is situated in South Africa and at the exorbitant cost of 120,000 dollars, this care is out of reach for majority of Kenyans.
Currently, between 50,000-75,000 persons are living with spinal injuries in Kenya with over 15,000 new cases being recorded annually.
Speaking during the ceremony, Zachary Kimotho who embarked on the 4,000 km trip to South Africa which is the nearest rehabilitation center will raise awareness about the plight of paraplegics in Kenya called for more support to enable him.
"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the foundation of all others. I hereby take this opportunity to say ' Thank You' to everybody who directly or indirectly contributed towards the first phase of the campaign," Kimatho said.
"I believe we will still be together in the second phase. I believe that with your continued support, we will be able to reach our target hence and complete the center and help our fellow citizens in need."
The Bring Zack Back Home Campaign spearheaded by KPO aimed at raising 3 million dollars to build a similar spinal cord injury facility in Kenya.
"The campaign was to run for 60 days and now the 60 days are over. Even though we have not raised the 3 million dollars we intended, we have raised a considerable amount of funds (834,000 dollars) which we can use to start phase 1 of the construction. At a personal level, I have experienced a personal tragedy; my father was hospitalized and I need to attend to him," Zack said.
To save Kimotho from enduring the tribulation of wheeling to South Africa, the campaign implored the public to support the construction of a local spinal injury rehabilitation facility in Kenya.
"I believe that this campaign was a success in the sense that we have raised awareness on the plight of people living with spinal injuries in Kenya and the need for a Trauma and Rehabilitation Center. I remain committed to fulfilling my dream of Kenya having a fully-fledged rehabilitation center," Kimatho said.
The public was requested to donate just 0.01 dollar or 0.012 dollar every day for 60 days of the campaign period by way of subscribing to *555# from a Safaricom line.
Meticulous publicity through mainstream media was carried out to reach out to at least 10 million people.
The KPO Rehabilitation and Trauma Center is the first and only Spinal Injury Rehabilitation Center in Eastern and Central Africa. Presently under construction, it is anticipated to cost up to 3 million dollars - an amount to high for any donor.
The absence of such a facility presently compels to travel in quest of rehabilitation services abroad with South Africa and Egypt being the only destinations in Africa.
Statistics indicate that it costs a minimum of 105,000 dollars to rehabilitate one person, an amount too high for an individual.
Unfortunately, incidences of spinal injuries are on the rise due to the frequent accidents on our roads, collapsing structures mainly in urban centers, fire outbreaks, car-jacking and most recently, threats of explosions posed to Kenyans by the Al-Shabaab attacks following invasion of Somalia.
A good illustration is the last month's bomb explosion in Nairobi that left about 28 people admitted to hospital and another one in Wajir in northern Kenya barely two days after. Enditem
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)