Gimbie Adventist Hospital Healthcare Institution
Gimbie Adventist Hospital (GAH) is located in Gimbie Town, West Wollega Zone in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia, approximately 450 km west of Addis Ababa.
The region is very mountainous. Gimbie itself is located at an altitude of approximately 2000 meters. There are essentially two seasons in Gimbie – the dry season and the rainy season. The rains begin around the end of May and last through September. During the dry season, temperatures are around 20 to 28C, but during the rainy season it can be quite cool – especially in the evenings.
West Wollega Zone has a population of approximately 2.03 million. Within West Wollega, there are 2 government hospitals (Dembidolo and Nejo) and 2 non-governmental hospitals (Aira-Guliso and Gimbie). Each of the NGO hospitals has no more than 75 inpatient beds and the government hospitals accommodate even less. Therefore, for the entire population, there are less than 300 inpatient beds available. All hospitals are located at least 70 km or 2 hours driving from each other.
GAH serves the residents of Gimbie Town (approximately 50,000) and the rural communities living in the environs of Gimbie (approximately 200,000). The majority of the population is composed of subsistence farmers, with per capita income below the international poverty line of $1 USD per day.
GAH is owned by the Ethiopian Church of Seventh-Day Adventists and has been in operation since 1947. Since 1999 GAH has been under the management of an International NGO, Adventist Health International (AHI). The hospital is recognized by the Oromia Health Bureau as a ‘not for profit private institution’. AHI provides technical assistance and managerial personnel, however, the majority of staff are local. In December 2006 there were 152 hospital employees and 42 clinic employees.
In 2002 a new 71 bed hospital building was opened. The new hospital provides the full range of inpatient and outpatient services including medicine, surgery, pediatrics, infectious diseases, maternal and reproductive health care. There is a small X-ray department and a small physiotherapy department.
There are six rural clinics managed by the hospital. The nearest (Dalati) is only 24km from Gimbie while the furthest (Green Lake) is 227km distance.
In addition to treatment services both GAH and clinics provide community health outreach, including maternal-child health care, immunization, and health education.
In September 2007, GAH opened a College of Health Sciences. Its first program is a 3 year Diploma Nursing Course, with an intake of 20 students per year. In future years, we hope to add programs for midwifery and laboratory technicians.
Gimbie Adventist Hospital 