The first stage of the Health Centre was officially opened in September 2002. This was the  building which is now used for Administration and Outpatients. This, however, was only a small part of the grand plan, and large amounts of money were needed to expand the Centre. The main fund-raising activity is a Giant Book Fair during Easter week each year in St Alban’s Church Hall. Books for this are donated each year by people from all parts of the Sydney Metropolitan area as well as the Blue Mountains. The money raised from this has gone directly to the people of Ibulanku, who have done most of the building work themselves.

God has wonderfully blessed their efforts and the Health Centre now consists of an  outpatients block, a Maternity block and a large Multi-purpose block, which comprises wards, an operating theatre, a pathology laboratory and eye and ear clinics. There is also a separate 3-bedroomed house, which is designed to accommodate visiting doctors or other short term voluntary workers.

Generous donations of medical supplies, furniture and equipment of all kinds from Sydney and elsewhere have equipped the whole Centre. A container load was sent to fit out the main building ready for the opening in 2002. Later four more containers were sent, containing enough equipment to start operating the Maternity section and to furnish the large, Multi-purpose block.

For several years now Anglican Aid (previously ORAF) has funded a project for the prevention and treatment of malaria at Ibulanku. Information about causes, prevention and treatment have been given in the form of dramas presented in various locations. Insecticide-treated mosquito nets have also been distributed. This funding has now come to an end, but it is hoped that the program will continue.

The nutrition program which Anglican Aid has also sponsored, is for malnourished babies and young children; this program treats and feeds the children until they are fit to return home, and educates their mothers as well as providing them with vegetable seeds or seedlings to take home to grow.

There are follow-up visits to the homes afterwards to monitor the children’s progress and to check that the mothers are managing to put into practice what they have learnt. This program, too, must continue, as it has a vital role in the life of the community.

In December 2003 two young female medical graduates from Monash University in Melbourne, Anne Miller and Lauren Sanders, went to spend several weeks working at the Health Centre. They stayed in the purpose-built house and did significant outreach work in the surrounding area, as well as delivering babies, making friends with children and immunising them, treating all manner of outpatients and giving talks on various health matters. They were enthusiastically received and were themselves very impressed with the Centre. On their return to Australia they encouraged their friends to follow their example, and a group went at the end of 2004 and others have followed since then. The university later established a kind of bursary to assist final year students with their travel expenses if they wish to do an elective at Ibulanku.

On several occasions groups of medical graduates from the United States have gone to Ibulanku to do similar work, and an experienced American doctor went there in 2005. In 2007 American doctors performed over 100 cataract operations in the theatre as well as other eye surgery.

They also identified a dozen young women with fistula problems and arranged surgery for them at another hospital.

In 2008 there were expressions of interest from medical students in England, and one spent some time working at Ibulanku in the middle of the year. Nurses from Australia have also spent time there. One of them, Margaret Fleming from Darwin, has on several occasions spent a few months there with her husband, Fergal, who has been an immense help with practical physical work and matters of organisation and has also helped by submitting proposals for funding for various projects.

The utilisation of the Health Centre services has increased considerably, with many babies safely delivered, a large number of women attending both ante-natal and babycare classes, and an average of 25 children being brought for immunisation each week.

The average weekly out-patient attendance is about 90 and there are usually at least 5 or 6 in-patients at any one time. Regular weekly Outreach sessions are conducted in areas surrounding the Centre to treat a variety of ailments, immunise the children and conduct Health Education classes.

The Australian High Commission to East Africa (based in Nairobi, Kenya) has on several occasions provided funding for projects at Ibulanku. They have funded equipment for the pathology laboratory, contributed to the cost of a generator as a backup electricity supply, and a new borehole, pump and piping to provide a reticulated water supply to the whole Health Centre. Water from the borehole is pumped up to a high level tank and is then gravity-fed to all the buildings.

In June 2009 the Australian High Commissioner of the time, Ms Lisa Filipetto, visited Ibulanku to see the new water system and the other facilities funded by the High Commission. She planted a tree to mark the occasion.

Now a new program has begun, giving treatment and counselling to people with HIV/AIDS. The sessions take place in the separate 3 unit block in a room which is also used for other purposes at other times.

John and Elizabeth Sowden (from St Alban’s Leura) are regular visitors to Ibulanku. Elizabeth conducts sewing classes for women at the Health Centre using treadle sewing machines, and John teaches English to the higher classes at the school, as well as helping with general organisation.

A recent addition to the Health Centre is free accommodation for nurses. Two buildings have been constructed behind the Centre providing 8 rooms with bathroom and cooking facilities between each 2 rooms. This will make life safer for nurses who until now have had to walk through the village in complete darkness to reach their rented rooms.

Last year a fence was erected round the entire perimeter of the Health Centre, with gates which are closed and guarded at night. This has had a number of benefits, from the prevention of cattle wandering through the grounds to making sure that patients have paid or come to some arrangement before they can leave. Climbing plants have now been planted at the base of the fence, which should in time provide some privacy and also keep out traffic noise and dust.

In 2011 an annexe to the Health Centre was opened in Idudi, a trading centre on the main road to Kenya. This has proved extremely successful. Recently the property next door to it was acquired, and is being used as a business centre and stationery shop. There are plans to establish an internet cafe in a back room of this property.

Early in 2013 Doctor David Muwanguzi from the district headquarters in Iganga offered to perform operations in the theatre of the Health Centre if we could adjust the water supply and drainage and purchase the necessary instrument kits. This was done and a number of operations have now taken place, with patient fees divided between the doctor and the Centre. This has been a welcome addition to the income of the Centre.