week three

I have made good friends with the clinician I have been attached to for the past two weeks. Her name is Chinsinsi and last night (mid-Aus day BBQ) she came to my house to get me so I could taste a dish she had cooked. It had unripe bananas, tomatoe and onions. Unripe bananas are used here a lot in savory cooking as they kind of taste like potatoe. Back at our house we were having a BBQ for Australia day. We had sausages, eggplant and onion and a rice tomato salad. We thought it was pretty good for the limited ingredients we can get here. During the day we wore and gave out little koalas and Australian flag stickers- many of the nurses and clinicians either donned a small koala or flag by the end of the day. Our British counterparts enjoyed celebrating with us, even if they jokingly referred to it as 'conquering day'.

Another week brought another bunch of interesting medical cases. I returned to the ward after lunch yesterday to a pregnant lady having seizures. My clinician had gone to the bank and had texted me to tell me to ask another clinician for help if anything came up. Luckily, Alicia was with me when I went back to the ward as I wanted her to review a different patient for me. We were able to get an IV in and give her diazepam which eventually stopped the seizures before getting her to the labour ward where the Mag Sulph lives, although she had a normal BP and no proteinuria so we thought eclampsia was unlikely.

MMH is a private hospital so patients have to pay for all their care, drugs and investigations. The cost is nothing in Australian dollars, but it's a lot for the villagers here. This week we had a lady on our ward who is about 30 years old. She has had 9 children already, and 7 are still living. She is pregnant again and came into hospital not being able to pass urine. She had an ultrasound which showed that she has a massive tumour in her bladder.... and she's got twins. The clinicians decided it was probably best that she went to the major hospital in Blantyre so she could get a c-section and possible removal of the tumour at the same time. She was in a lot of pain and very uncomfortable. However, on the day she was going to be transferred her family could not pay the medical bills here, which meant she could not go. That sucked. My friend Sophie and I said we would pay. They were so thankful. It cost us only $30 each to settle her bill. It was so little to us, but everything to them. She was transferred to the big hospital immediately. It's hard to believe we live in a world where the disparities are so great, and the consequences so dire.

On another note, there is a great shortage of petrol in Malawi. I don't understand completely why, but it is very hard to get fuel into the country. When it comes to the petrol station, the line of cars stretches right down the street and people wait for hours hoping to fill up. The fuel is also very expensive. I have never seen a car with a full tank of petrol. The hospital ambulances always seem to be nearly empty or empty. It restricts everyone's movements around the place. Transferring patients depends on how much fuel the hospital has, and trips for enjoyment sake are a luxury!

I am almost half way through may placement at MMH and still loving it. Next week I plan to move to the maternity ward to do some obstetrics which I am looking forward to.