by Dr. Tom Catena
Click to watch Dr. Tom’s update video
Transcript of Dr. Tom and a clinical medical student, Hanan Ibrahim, at St. Bahkita
Hi everybody, this is Tom Catina. I’m the medical director at the Mother of Mercy Hospital here in Sudans, DEMA Mountains. And, about two and a half years ago, we embarked on a grand project to start a clinical training school.
And we’re currently almost finished training the first cohort of clinical officers, and they are key health personnel in the African setting. We graduate 19 clinical officers in July. That’ll about double the clinical officer workforce in new mountains and will have a huge impact on healthcare in Nuba.
Testimony of a clinical medical student, Hanan Ibrahim: St. Bahkita has helped me to take care of the patient by knowing they’re diagnosed and prescribing the right medicine to them. I feel much happy and proud when I get the right diagnosis and I have treated the patient and the patient become cured. I know that at least St. Bahkita has changed me. I am now able to change the lives of the patient.
Dr. Tom: Around July of 2026, we’re gonna graduate our first cohort of midwives and we’ll have 29 of them. We’re gonna get those people sent out to remote clinics throughout Nuba. They will really help to transform maternal care throughout Nuba Mountains.
Hanan Ibrahim: I managed to get as a midwife student in this school and pursue my studies through St. Barita Health Training Institute. I actually realized a lot of problems that are going on in the community. It’s very important for mothers to have deliveries in the hospitals because home deliveries are not safe. The area is not clean, they don’t keep a sterility of the procedure. So through this institute, we are able to discover such things and help the mothers advise them on hospital deliveries. I’m seeing now I’m going to achieve my dream to become a midwife and help the mothers.
Dr. Tom: The students are doing extremely well and we really look forward to having them out there as friends and colleagues. So, on behalf of our students, on behalf of Mother Mercy Hospital, on behalf of the people of Nuba, I wanna say thank you very much.