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				December 2006
		More than medicine Should we be sharing the gospel or meeting the material needs of the poor? Steve and Kate Bradford write. Berega Hospital in Tanzania does both. In Australia it is hard to detect an obvious difference between a Christian hospital and any other hospital, but here, there is a huge difference between Berega Hospital and many others. It's not that Berega is well financed and has great equipment and a super professional staff - it doesn't really. It runs only on the fees that the patients pay - on the whole, these are some of the poorest people in the country. A lot of the nursing staff only have education to grade 7 and a one-year nurse assistant course. The lab is very basic - able to perform malaria tests, blood grouping, haemoglobin and HIV tests. Parasites are looked for under a microscope on a bench with a battery powered light. Generous donations from overseas make it possible to improve the buildings and infrastructure. But still much of our existence seems to be day-to-day survival. Last week the water pump broke. It took three days to get a new part from Dar es Salaam and the hospital had no water for these days. When the pump was repaired the generator stopped briefly and then the phone stopped working for four days. Despite all this we continue to hear positive reports about the ministry of the hospital. Two weeks ago a church assistant thanked us for the hospital and the care he received, and described another hospital where no one came near the patients without extra payments being made. We heard of a hospital where patients are only seen during the shift when a particular Christian nursing sister is on, and patients have died on other shifts if the family is not able to pay extra money. Kate attended a clergy teaching week for pastors and evangelists. Many passed on thanks to the hospital for safe delivery of babies; surgery for themselves, families and parishioners. They were particularly thankful for the prayer they received in hospital, and care shown by staff. They appreciated that the price was up front and once they paid they received their drugs and treatment. Another pastor told Kate that in his town there were many children named Stevie because they had been delivered by Dr Steve! We think no water, no power and no phone are the end of the world, but as people talk to us they think being left to die without treatment and care and love is the end of the world. Nearly all patients gratefully accept prayer in Jesus' name. Many in the TB ward wait anxiously for someone to come and give a talk from the Bible and keep them company. We have heard that in Gairo, 40 kilometres away, people talk about going to see the men of God for treatment at Berega. In a country with a struggling health care system, where the poor are discriminated against, and in a society that closely links health and healing to religion, a Christian hospital is a vital outreach for the gospel and works in close partnership with the church and the Lay Training Centre. Lay training students visit patients and preach and pray in the wards as part of their ministry. Please continue to pray for the work of Berega Hospital and for the provision of Christian doctors so this ministry is able to continue to touch people with the gospel and help provide affordable medical services for the people of this region.