We spent a little over a week with our friends and
colleagues at Kaluquembe earlier this month. This time, we walked away with a
little more perspective on the work and challenges at the hospital. The
clinical work kept us busy (hysterectomies, C-sections, fistula repairs, and a
very sick antenatal population for Priscila; learning herniorrhaphies, head
traumas, and treating a variety of medical conditions on men’s, women’s, TB and
children’s wards for Daniel). And the beautiful evening walks rejuvenated us.
But wow; the challenges for a place with such high infant mortality are daunting;
so is the management of MDR-TB in a country that does not acknowledge it has
such a problem (thus, there are no easy ways to test for it nor are medications
made available for treatment . . . a scary situation that spells international
crisis). In a country that has immense resources but where over 80% of the
population still lives on less than US$2 a day, the barriers to good patient
care are more than we yet know. Please keep praying for us (and for patients
and health workers); we are trying to provide just and merciful care to our
patients, but it feels that there aren’t many here who share that same desire.
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| Femur fracture room on the men's ward. Note simple traction devices that patients remain in for weeks to months |
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Molar pregnancy as seen on our favorite piece of CEML equipment: the Sonosite Micromaxx. Treatment options are usually D and E or hysterectomy. Even getting methotrexate is a big hurdle here.
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| Priscila with nursing student and Dona Julia, the Chief midwife at Kaluquembe |
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| Zeke, stewing something smelly |
1 comment:
thank you for all the updates!! And pics... specially of your dear son ... how he is growing.. courage as you serve... and remember, we join with praying for local hearts to share the same vision for just and merciful care for the many patients!love you much
malita and john
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