Dr Catherine Hamlin, née Nicholson, was born in Sydney Australia and graduated from the University of Sydney in 1946. She met and married Dr Reginald Hamlin, a New Zealander, when they were both Senior Medical Administrators at Crown Street Women's Hospital, Sydney.

In 1958 they answered an advertisement in the Lancet Medical Journal for an obstetrician and gynaecologist to establish a Midwifery School at the Princess Tsehay Hospital in Addis Ababa. They arrived in Addis Ababa in 1959 on a three year contract with the Ethiopian Government.

They began working in the hospital and training midwives. However, after a short while the Ethiopian Government advised the Hamlins that it would not be able to afford to pay the higher salaries of the trained midwives. Only about 10 midwives had been trained before the the Government closed the midwifery school.

By then, however, the Hamlins had seen women arriving at the hospital who were incontinent and smelling. They were outcast even by the other patients. No one at the hospital knew how to treat these women.

The Hamlins had never seen an obstetric fistula before. "To us they were an academic rarity," Catherine recalls in her book, The Hospital by the River.

One fellow gynaecologist told them that the "fistula patients will break your hearts". And this is exactly what they did. In response the Hamlins set about finding a cure.

The Hamlins studied what they could from the writings of earlier fistula surgeons such as Dr Marion Sims (the Father of Modern Gynaecology) and from doctors who were still operating in places such as Egypt.

Obstetric fistula was virtually eradicated in the United States by the Twentieth Century due to improved obstetric techniques such as Caesarean section.

The Hamlin’s refined the surgical technique to close obstetric fistulae, while continuing to treat a broad range of obstetric cases. They were able to develop a delicate surgical technique to successfully repair fistulae caused by obstructed childbirth in 93% of cases.

As women returned to their villages cured, and word spread that a cure for this condition was possible more and more women arrived seeking help.

In their first year in Ethiopia, the Hamlins treated 30 fistula patients. By the third year 300 women had been healed.

Through first hand experience, the Hamlins quickly became aware of the suffering endured by women with fistulae. Drs Reginald and Catherine Hamlin knew these "outcast" women deserved a hospital of their own – a place that would be a sanctuary and a haven, where they would be welcomed and restored.

They worked for many years before they had raised enough money to establish a hospital dedicated to the care of women suffering from obstetric fistula.

1974

Finally, in 1974 during the Communist Revolution which overthrew Emperor Haile Selassie, the Hamlins opened the doors of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. It remains the only hospital in the world dedicated exclusively to fistula repair.

1975–1993

Despite two major revolutions, a civil war and an oppressive Communist regime, about 15,000 women suffering from obstetric fistula were treated and cured during this period.

1993

Dr Reg Hamlin OBE died in Ethiopia. Dr Catherine Hamlin pledged herself to continue the work they had started.

1993–1995

When Dr Reg Hamlin OBE died in 1993, there was a need for additional doctors to reside on site. An increasing number of patients were coming for surgery and the hospital buildings needed to be upgraded and extended.

A house for a new resident doctor was built. The Princess Anne Ward, the pathology laboratory and the library were also built. A more intensive program to train doctors and nurses in fistula surgery was commenced.

1996–Today

• Dr Catherine Hamlin continues to work tirelessly to expand the Hospital and so increase the number of women who can be helped.
• In 1998 the Hospital was extensively refurbished and enlarged. Today the Hospital can accommodate up to 140 patients and four operations can be performed simultaneously in the theatre.
• In 2003 Desta Mender (‘Village of Joy’) was opened. This is the Hospital’s purpose built village farm where women who have suffered injuries which require long term medical care can live and learn life skills such as literacy, numeracy, agriculture, horticulture and dairying. Some of the women also run a cafe located in the village which provides hospitality to the many visitors who come to the village. Click here to find out more information on Desta Mender.
• Four fistula centres have been established in the regional towns of Bahir Dar, Mekelle, Harar and Yirgalem. The fifth centre, in Metu, is currently under construction and will be completed during 2010.
• Dr Hamlin’s dream of setting up a midwifery college was fulfilled (after nearly fifty years) when in 2007 the Hamlin College of Midwives was opened.
• Dr Hamlin believes that the only way to eradicate obstetric fistula is to put a midwife in every village.
• Dr Catherine Hamlin lives in her cottage on the grounds of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital as she has done for over thirty five years. At the age of 86 she still remains very active in the work of the Hospital and operates every Thursday morning.
• Her son Richard lives in the UK with his wife Diana and their four children. He is actively involved in the Hospital’s activities and sits on the Hospital’s Board of Trustees.

Back to top