The vision for LAMB began in the early 1950s when a missionary of the American Santal Mission in Dinajpur felt an urgent need for medical work for the hundreds of thousands who had no access to proper healthcare.
LAMB has grown considerably in its ability to serve. Now the hospital treats more than 60,000 out patients per year – nearly 200 per day; nearly 10,000 in-patients per year for surgery or medical treatment; and delivers 3,000 babies per year.
In communities around the hospital, LAMB has 28 clinics; including 132 safe delivery units, with NGO staff working in Government of Bangladesh union-level facilities (population ~35,000/union) in 4 districts. The community activities include not only health related activities, but also community development and disaster preparedness. In addition, LAMB is building capacity in local government health clinics through clinical staff training as well as facilitating community oversight and accountability.
LAMB has now extended its service into provision of high quality training for our own staff as well as government and other NGO health workers. Because of its access to community and hospital health and socio-economic data, we are increasingly called upon to assist in research programs.
LAMB now has more than 2000 staff – mostly Bangladeshi, but with approximately 25 foreign staff to bring additional expertise and training capacity.
Despite its growth, LAMB retains its original mission to serve God through serving the poor and underprivileged, particularly women and children. The blend of religions of our patients reflects fairly closely the proportions of the populations of the whole of Bangladesh.
We believe that LAMB is increasingly widely recognized for the high quality of its services for the poor, and we would welcome being considered an example.