The Outpatient's Department at Mvumi Hospital where patients are examined before admission to the wards, treated for minor ailments or prescribed medicines which they can obtain at the hospital pharmacy. Patients have to pay for their treatment and medicines, but thanks to the generosity of supporters of the hospital the prices are held to the lowest possible levels.

Anxious patients and carers queue at the Mvumi Hospital outpatients check in before they can see a doctor. The queue often starts to form even before dawn as the people arrive from outlying villages, many having walked all night.

Visitors wait in the outpatient`s department to see a doctor in the early morning at Mvumi. There may be anything between 200 and 1000 people attending the department each month depending on the season. Over the year there are generally about 6000 admissions to the hospital with peaks which coincide with the rains when malaria can approach epidemic levels.

Most patients in the hospital come with a carer from their own family who prepares food and looks after them during their stay. This photograph shows a group of mothers cooking food outside of the children's ward.

Patients passing the early morning in the hospital compound.