The town of Menouf is 70km north west of Cairo, in the green delta of the Nile. It has a population of about half a million but is surrounded by many poor villages where farmers try to eke out a living from the land.

From its humble beginnings as a simple camp hospital, the Harpur Memorial Hospital has grown. It now has 120 members of staff, 75 beds, two operating theatres and over 50,000 outpatients are seen each year.

Current activities

• As well as the usual departments one would expect to find in a hospital (surgery, general medicine, paediatrics, gynaecology, x-ray, and the like) the Hospital also has clinics for TB, leprosy and tropical diseases. There is a pharmacy, a dental unit, an eye clinic and a laboratory. The Hospital has modern x-ray machines, radiology equipment and the ability to perform microsurgery.
• The Hospital keeps its fees very low, and those who cannot afford to pay anything are treated free of charge. No patient is ever refused treatment. Many of the patients are children and they receive free immunisations and check-ups.
• In 1983, a medical records department was started, with a file for every patient. This system is unique in the area.
• In Western countries, emphasis is not only on treating patients, but also on preventative care. This is not the case in Egypt. The Hospital aims to reach out into the community and offer health education to enable the prevention, or a reduction in the severity of the diseases in its patients.
• The Hospital has expanded its outreach work into the local community, giving simple health care instruction and providing social services to those who are in most need in the surrounding villages. For example, a system of small loans has been started, to enable women to learn crafts that will provide income.
• The Hospital holds a weekly church service for both staff and patients.

The Bishop of Egypt, Bishop Mouneer, was Director of the Hospital for almost 20 years before he became Bishop at the turn of the century. He once wrote, 'One of my dreams was to have a very modern hospital, but I changed my mind when I saw those huge hospitals in Cairo — complex buildings that look like palaces — filled with modern equipment so that it is difficult for ordinary people and especially the poor even to enter. Building one hospital like that costs as much as 16 primary health care units, each able to offer services to thousands of needy patients.'

Instead, the Hospital's vision is to serve the community by providing much-needed health care to all people regardless of their social, economic and religious status. It is a community-based hospital, reaching out to those who need health care and provides a good standard of medical care.