Jahaly Health Centre

The “Jahaly Health Centre” serves up to 46,000 patients per year – outpatients as well as inpatients – and is considered one of the country’s best health facilities. In 2009 it has been recognized by the Gambian government as a “model clinic”.

The clinic has several surgeries, two wards, a laboratory, a pharmacy, an ambulance car and a maternity ward. On the Campus of Jahaly Health Centre there is also a small Dental Unit, which is actually closed until further notice.  A 20 kW solar power system provides electricity round the clock 24/7. For a health facility up-country this is very special.  In recent years, power lines have been installed along the two highways south and north of the Gambia River. Since the end of 2017, Jahaly has also been connected to the electricity grid. However, only a few families can afford a power connection. Jahaly Health Centre was connected to the public grid in February 2019 – 28 years after it’s inauguration.

The clinic is regularly maintained and renovated. In 2013, the buildings received new roofs, tiles, plumbing fixtures, and low-maintenance aluminum doors and windows. Floors and walls are tiled. The patient:inside beds are bricked and tiled: this sounds strange, but it is easy to clean and thus enables the greatest possible hygiene - one of the major challenges in the Gambia's healthcare system. A registered Gambian nurse and midwife runs the clinic. Patients pay a treatment fee of between 0.25 euros (children under five) and 0.50 euros (children over five and adults). A flat medication fee of 1.65 euros was introduced in April 2021.

The salaries of the employees are higher than in comparable state institutions. Project Aid provides all employees with an apartment on the clinic premises, where many live with their spouses and children.

Every patient who visits the Buschklinik first passes through the outpatient service. Here the patients are examined and further treatment is discussed. The diseases are mostly malaria, diseases of the respiratory tract (bronchitis, pneumonia), diarrhea and skin diseases as well as cuts and burns. In the past, during the "cold season", smaller children in particular often fell into the open fireplaces that are used in the villages to cook meals.

The inpatient area has 27 beds: sixteen beds for adults and eleven beds for children, housed in different rooms. Small rooms are used to isolate patients or are provided for patients in need of rest or for patients with very severe illnesses: especially for patients treated for particularly severe manifestations of malaria or pneumonia or who have extensive burns. These beds are also provided for patients who require infusion therapies, e.g. for severe diarrheal diseases.