
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 |
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