Serving some 750 000 people in Mariannhill – an impoverished rural and peri-urban area on the outskirts of Durban – St Mary's Hospital is the only private, government-aided Catholic Mission Hospital in South Africa.

One-third of the people living in the area are HIV positive – the highest incidence of HIV in the country (and indeed, the world) – and 60% are unemployed. Amid sickness and despair, St Mary's Hospital is a beacon of hope and healing for the "poorest of the poor"

Our 200-bed hospital offers:

• A midwife and obstetrics unit that ensures the safe delivery of over 6 000 babies per year;
• A specialist burn ward, which caters for victims of fires in the informal settlements;
• A 45-bed children's ward, providing care for children aged between 1 week and 12 years;
• Surgical and non-surgical wards for those requiring inpatient treatment;
• Hospice/palliative care wards for terminally ill patients, most of whom are dying of HIV/AIDS;
• Outpatients clinic, which incorporates a hi-tech paediatric outpatient ward. In excess of
  4 000 people are treated as outpatients each month;
• A rehabilitation department, which provides physiotherapy and occupational therapy for both in- and out-patients;
• Primary health care and antenatal clinic, which serves the immedite local community at no cost to the patient. Addtional support clinics are offered to patients suffering from diabetes and tuberculosis;
• Weekend eye care clinic, which offers cataract surgery;
• Support services, such as the radiography department, laboratory and pharmacy

Although St Mary’s receives a government grant, this only covers just over half of the hospital's operational costs. The shortfall is covered by generous donations from individuals, corporates and partners.

Without you, St Mary’s would not be able to continue providing holistic and quality health care to patients too poor to make more than a token payment, if anything at all.

If you can imagine what it would be like to be seriously ill or injured – with no way of paying for the medical help that would save your life – please consider making a donation to St Mary's Hospital right now. Every contribution counts, every contribution is a cherished!