The Albert Schweitzer Hospital itself is spread out, consisting of several zones: the modern hospital zone, in which is located the hospital built between 1976 and 1981, including the Outpatient Polyclinic, operating rooms, inpatient buildings, Hospital Administration, and the Technical Services buildings; the Housing Zone, where Gabonese and expatriate staff are lodged; the Historical Zone, in which are found the old hospital buildings built by Dr. Schweitzer in 1927, Dr. Schweitzer’s house, the cemetery and the houses along the riverbank; and the Village Lumière Zone (the village for patients with leprosy, known as the “Village of Light”).  The Schweitzer Foundation property consists of roughly 180 hectares and 2,000 inhabitants.

Since 1981, the Albert Schweitzer Hospital has strengthened the following functions:

• Ambulatory and hospital care
  • Operative and Surgical wards
  • General Adult and Tropical Medicine
  • Pediatrics
  • Obstetrics and Gynecology
    
• Medical consultations and primary care
  
• Dental care
  • Dental Clinic
    
• Preventive care
  • Maternal and Infant Protection (PMI)
  • Mobile Dental clinic
    
• Other care
  • Leprosy Patient Village
  • Psychiatry
  • Geriatrics
    
• Research
  • Research Laboratory (Malaria, HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Tropical Disease)

Between 1975 and 1981, the Albert Schweitzer Hospital was renovated and expanded in the pavilion style.  Each pavilion serves as the headquarters of a different service.  The buildings are grouped around the outpatient center (the Polyclinic) and are connected by covered passageways, which permit patients to be protected from sun and rain while they are transported between pavilions.  The medical service pavilions are all constructed in the same manner.  Through each runs a long central corridor in the entrance of which there are examination rooms and rooms for health care personnel.  Off of each main hallway are seven to eight patient rooms, separated from the corridor by a simple curtain.  At the end of the hallway are patient showers and bathrooms.  The majority of the rooms hold two beds, which house the sick and their “guardians” (family members or friends who take care of the patient, primarily by providing linens and food, and staying with the patient for the duration of his or her stay in the hospital).  The guardians usually sleep on the floors of the rooms of their ill loved ones, sometimes on or under the patients’ beds.  Visitors are able to enter patient rooms directly from the outside by individual doors to the patients’ rooms.  Guardians prepare meals for the sick in the kitchen buildings close to the medical services building.  

The outpatient Polyclinic is the largest pavilion of the hospital, built with support from USAID  It contains examination rooms, emergency medical areas, the surgery ward (sterile), the pharmacy, the laboratory, the radiology department, the PMI (Protection of Mothers and Infants Program), a conference room, and a library.  In the center of the Polyclinic is a large waiting room where the majority of patients wait to be seen.

Patient consultations take place in the late morning once physicians have finished their inpatient duties, as well as in the afternoons and evenings.  Patients wait in the waiting room in the Polyclinic.  Their files are archived at the hospital.  Consultations are held in six air-conditioned examination rooms surrounding the waiting room.  Consultations occur regularly, as there are two internists and two surgeons who are assisted from time to time by medical interns and licensed nurses.  Pediatric consultations are held in the pediatric pavilion with pediatricians.

Consultations cost 6,000 CFA (9.15 Euros or $10.00 USD) and cover the cost of most short-term medications and any needed laboratory tests.  Fees are paid to the central cashier.  Patients who are sick but unable to pay, however, are never turned away.

The number of consultations the hospital provides is significant; due to the considerable improvement of roads from Libreville to Lambaréné, the low cost of care in comparison with the fees charged by private hospitals in Libreville, and the quality of care provided by the Schweitzer Hospital, the number of patients increases each year.

Prized by all of Gabon, the hospital’s greatest assets are its exceptional medical treatment and its virtually guaranteed supplies (medication, laboratory tests, surgical equipment, etc.), thanks to international donors.  The Schweitzer Hospital’s laboratory, world-renowned for its advancements in malaria research, has recently begun work on HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.  The hospital’s effectiveness in treating malaria with the laboratory’s support is remarkable: children with severe malaria cared for at the Schweitzer Hospital have the lowest documented mortality rate in all of Africa.  Laboratory staff often leave the Hospital grounds to follow up on patients in their home villages, working with the Community Health Program to expand health services in the region. 
No patient in need is ever turned away for lack of money at the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship.  Dedicated international staff, comprehensive curative and preventive medicine services, a world-class scientific laboratory, rigorous financial management systems, and an historic sense of mission make the Schweitzer Hospital today a unique and effective institution.