A pregnant woman came to the gate late in December after a busy weekend at Memorial Christian Hospital, just days before Christmas. Would we see her?
When Selina* arrived at the hospital, her face was blue and she was gasping for breath, unaware of what was going on around her.
As she was rushed into the operating room, medical staff discovered that her oxygen levels were incredibly low. They quickly did a cesarean section without administering anesthesia in an effort to save the child inside her womb.
A limp baby was pulled out. She wasn’t breathing.
And neither were we.
But Emmanuel God was with them. And both the mother and baby survived.
After a few days of recovery, Selina was awake and able to breathe on her own. She shared with staff that she had gone from hospital to hospital and no one would take her in. Yet, Selina and her little girl found shelter, hope and life at Memorial Christian Hospital (MCH).
Stories like Selina’s are heard over and over at MCH, which has been serving the Muslim-majority population of Bangladesh for more than 50 years—often providing compassionate care and life-saving medical assistance to patients in desperate need of help, and who may have nowhere left to turn.
Opened in 1966, the existing hospital has over 65 in-patient beds, and is a vibrant spiritual platform for 10-million people who live in the surrounding area.
Cholera, typhoid, malaria, malnutrition, polio, and rabies are common among the approximately 40,000 people who visit MCH in various forms of crisis each year. Sometimes medical staff can save them. Other times they cannot. But every one of them is treated with respect and compassion, providing many opportunities to share Christ’s love with those in need. For many people, it is their first-and-only contact with Christianity.
MCH offers excellent, compassionate medical care, creating spiritual openness. The hospital has been the spring board for congregations, Bible colleges, pastoral training, Bible-translation work, literature and other opportunities to impact the community.
After 50 years of hard use, however, MCH facilities were stretched to the breaking point. The hospital has already raised more than $6.7 million toward renovating and expanding its facilities—including building a 120-bed medical center, ER and Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
Patients like Selina, who previously had to have oxygen hand-pumped into their lungs—a tedious, pain-staking process that required family members to squeeze a balloon consistently every few seconds at just the right pressure—could now have access to ventilators. Her newborn baby could have access to a neonatal incubator.
The building is complete, but you can help cover medical expenses for patients recieving care at MCH, and help staff share spiritual truth in Bangladesh.