By BRIDGET SCOTT
MEMBERS of the Inner Wheel Club of Pakenham have been knitting squares in their spare time and have put them together to form bright colourful blankets.
These have been created for the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital.
The hospital was founded in 1974 by Dr Reginald and Catherine Hamlin both obstetrician/gynecologists from New Zealand and Australia respectively.
The hospital provides care for women with obstetric fistulas, the most devastating of all childbirth injuries.
The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital has treated more than 30,000 women with a success/cure rate of more than 90 per cent.
Today, the hospital provides free fistula repair surgery to approximately 2500 women every year and cares for 50 long-term patients.
An Inner Wheel Club member will be visiting Addis Ababa next month and is delivering the hand knitted blankets to the hospital.
Every patient is given a blanket on discharge from the hospital.
