The Strathmore University Medical Centre (SUMC) has quietly become a pillar of compassion within and beyond the University. Through a range of community outreach programs, the department has extended care to the most vulnerable, blending professional expertise with a human touch that restores dignity and hope.

One of SUMC’s ongoing partnerships is with a congregation of nuns in Thika, who are planning to build a hospital for the elderly. The department has joined the planning team to offer medical and logistical guidance, ensuring the facility is designed to meet the specific health needs of aging patients. It is a project rooted in empathy and foresight, a vision for sustainable care for the elderly.

Closer to home, the SUMC team regularly conducts free medical camps at Strathmore University and in Madaraka Estate. These clinics offer free blood sugar and pressure checks, ENT and gynaecology consultations, nutrition assessments, and paediatric services. The most recent camp at Fountain Court in Madaraka specifically targeted children’s health, offering specialized care to families who could not afford it.

The department’s compassion extends to Mukuru kwa Njenga, where a visit revealed that hunger was a more immediate threat than illness. SUMC volunteers bought porridge flour for families and it was during that act of kindness that they met Baby Gifton, a one-year-old weighing just 4.9 kilograms. After medical investigations revealed a genetic bone malfunction, the SUMC team stepped in to ensure he received regular paediatric and specialist care. Today, Gifton attends checkups at Machakos Hospital every three months, and though his journey is long, he has hope because someone cared enough to notice.

Beyond the community, SUMC also reaches out to prisoners at Jamhuri Prison, the dental unit donates toothbrushes, toothpaste, and other essentials to inmates, promoting oral health and dignity among the confined. The team is also in the process of partnering with a pharmaceutical company to establish a water treatment project that will ensure that the prisoners have clean drinking water.

Even within the University, the department practices care. When one of the department’s staff member’s parents fell ill, the team came together to raise funds through a creative initiative — selling their time to Medical Representatives from different suppliers to generate income. These internal contributions, combined with funds from the MR activities, have made it possible to buy essential medication and medical supplies for the staff’s parent.

And then, there is Michael Mwangi.

On a quiet Saturday night in 2022, Michael Mwangi’s life changed forever. Then, just 17 years old, full of energy and dreams, he was heading to a friend’s house after a party in Kayole, Nairobi. Suddenly, two men on a motorbike appeared. Shots rang out. “When I woke up,” Michael recalls, “I was on the ground, struggling to breathe. One of them had a gun pressed to my head. I remember wondering who I had wronged. I was just a student, running for my life.

By dawn, market women found him lying cold and helpless and called his mother. That moment began a journey marked by pain, resilience, and the unyielding love of family and community.

He was rushed to Mama Lucy Hospital, then transferred to Kenyatta National Hospital, where doctors managed to remove the bullet. But the damage was severe. The bullet had injured his spine at the T10 vertebra, leaving him unable to move his legs. “As days passed,I realized my life had changed. I couldn’t feel my legs. I couldn’t even sit without help.” he says.

He was then moved to the National Spinal Injury Hospital, where he says, “Complications worsened.” He developed painful pressure sores and needed a colostomy bag. “I couldn’t turn in bed. I felt trapped in one position.” he admits quietly.

It was during this dark season that the SUMC team met Michael. They found him malnourished and pale, not because food was scarce, but because he feared eating since he had no colostomy bags. The team stepped in immediately, providing colostomy bags, diapers, dressing materials, and compassionate follow-up care.

Michael’s mother, Jane, a hawker in Nairobi, has stood by him through it all. “I try to work, but Michael needs me more,” she says. “Dressing wounds, changing bags, cooking ; it’s all full-time. Sometimes I cry because I can’t provide everything we need.”

When they could no longer be kept in the hospital for reasons well known to the hospital and couldn’t afford a private nurse, his condition worsened. Once again, SUMC intervened providing dressing materials, medical support, and hope.

But today, Michael’s situation is urgent. He is fighting infections, severe grade 4 pressure sores, urethral fistula and an abdominal complication that requires immediate surgery. Doctors believe that with surgery, physiotherapy, and rehabilitation, his health can improve greatly.

Still, Michael refuses to give up.
“My condition is not the end of everything,” he says firmly. “I want to become the best version of myself. I want to give back, to stand for others the way people have stood for me.”

Michael dreams of regaining independence, going back to school, and learning a technical skill that will allow him to support his family. But he needs your help to take that next step.

In the words of the Director of SUMC the situation is now as follows:

“We have been advised that Kijabe Hospital is in a position to assist Michael with the necessary treatment. However for this to happen, the family will need to pay for transport, consultation fee and the admission fee that is coming to approximately KShs 100,000. Once he gets admitted the mother will explain their current situation, and we think Michael will be helped”.

Today, we invite you to help SUMC and Michael to raise the KShs 100,000 they need. . If everybody gives a little bit we will make it. This is another manifestation of the Personalized Attention value that we speak about in SU. This is what differentiates the talkers from the doers.

LIPA NA MPESA
Paybill: 100219
Account Number: medicalmwangi

Article Written by Teresa Nekesa