P.O Box 506, Mbarara, Uganda. Montfort, Nyamitanga Hill, Mbarara City South On one of his visits to a certain parish in Germany (verl), His Grace Paul K Bakyenga the Archbishop Emeritus of Mbarara Archdiocese met a group of young people among them by then was Thomas Pankoke who became friends with the Archbishop and even promised to visit his Archdiocese. When opportunity arrived, Thomas Pankoke
and his friends from Germany visited Uganda and Mbarara and Thomas being a Paramedic, was more interested in visiting hospitals to see their state. He realized that some of them did not have enough equipment and also as a paramedic realized that they didn't have ambulances and any pre-hospital care service. When he went back to Germany he organized his group and they began by sending containers of hospital equipment to hospitals in Mbarara Archdiocese in 2001, not long in 2012, Thomas organized his first ambulances, two vehicles and they arrived at Ibanda Hospital which is the oldest Ambulance base and Phillip Ongom the longest serving paramedic says those ambulances have saved over 1,000 lives in Ibanda. To cut the long story short, Thomas and his group of volunteers under their umbrella Organisation Humanitarian Help for Uganda Verl now have ambulance bases in Ibanda Hospital, Comboni Hospital in Kyamuhunga, Villa Maria in Masaka, Holy Innocents Chidren's Hospital in Mbarara, Nyakibale Hospital in Rukungiri, Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital and Kyabirukwa Health Center III in Isingiro. In 2017 as Uganda launched the Emergency Medical Services in the country, HHFU members were invited and today they have joined other stake holders in building and shaping the Emergency Medical and ambulance services of the country. You can see what a big heart Thomas Pankoke and his organization have had for Uganda, his whatsApp status says "Go For Uganda". That's how the story of this ambulance project began and the vision of Thomas is to have a strong Ambulance Service for Uganda to save more lives there, the service is managed by a team of nurses, Doctors and drivers that volunteer to save lives in there particular areas, long live Thomas, Long live the Archbishop and Long live the ambulance service.
