Harpur Memorial Hospital in Menouf, Egypt

A video made for the centenary of Harpur Memorial Hospital in Menouf, Egypt on the 1st of December 2010. Harpur Memorial Hospital is a ministry of the Episcopal / Anglican Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa (http://www.dioceseofegypt.org/english/)

TRANSCRIPT
Harpur... a river of generous giving

Our Nile is a great river which has been witness to many civilizations and many stories. One of these stories is of an Irish doctor. His name is Dr. Frank Harpur. He came to Egypt in 1889.

Frank Harpur loved God, and like a monk, he committed his life to serve the people of Egypt. He founded a hospital in Old Cairo. After a few years, he realized that the needs of the people, in regard to health care, were greater outside the capital of Cairo.

He bought a sailing boat (dahabyia) and he equipped it with tents and medical instruments. He started to sail with this boat to the villages. In every village he used to set-up his tents which became a camp hospital.

One day he reached a small canal called "el Bagoreyia" in the middle of a village called "el Hamoul" in the Province of Menoufaya. There he met a sheikh named "Bassiouni el Saidi" who welcomed him to set up his camp hospital in his fields.

In this village Harpur examined many patients and when the time of departure came, Sheikh Bassiouni pleaded with him to establish a hospital in the Province of Menoufaya. After thinking, Dr. Frank Harpur established the first hospital in the city of Menouf in 1910.

Date of Birth of Harpur Hospital
1910


Bishop Mouneer Anis

In 1979, God called me to serve at Harpur Memorial Hospital in Menouf. He sent me great colleagues: Dr. Adel Aziz and Dr. Taki. We were one team serving in this place in one Spirit. We were determined to make this place a centre of excellence that serves the people of Menouf and the whole Province. After that, Dr. Samir and Dr. Hany Abadier joined the team. All of us served as one team.

In 2000, God called me to be a bishop and I left the hospital. Dr. Hany Abadier then became the director. After a few years, in 2005, Dr. Samir became the director of the hospital. We saw that the buildings of the hospital needed to be renovated. We rearranged the in-patient department to be suitable and to give a kind of privacy to every patient.

Dr. Samir Rizkalla

We built an addition equal to one-third of the existing hospital. Besides the in-patient department, we removed the walls which connected the two building and we started to rearrange the structure of the entire hospital ground.

Now we have single rooms and double rooms with air-conditioning, televisions and refrigerators. There are also large rooms which take four or five beds and are very economical. The operating theatre became very advanced. God sent us new operating lights, new sterilizers, and operating tables.

In addition, two rooms were added: one as a lounge for doctors to change their clothes and one for doctors to rest between operations. We also developed a new delivery room and another for the neo-natal department.

The shape of the hospital completely changed for the better. We thank God because He helped us and supported us. As you can see, the whole hospital has been completely renovated from the past.

Dr. Adel Aziz

This place is different than any other hospital. The difference is that the doctors and nurses here do not work in medicine merely as a career, but as servants for the patients because the patient is the most important person to deal with.