I went on rounds today with the Doc who I work with. It was an eye opening experience. I'll spare the graphic details but rest assured, you should wake up every day and be thankful that when you get sick, you are seen in the US.....
After some in depth conversations, I have made arrangements to go see the local medicine man and talk to him. Curiosity got the best of me and I wanted to see how he treats his patients. Turns out that almost everyone goes to see him first then, when all else fails, they come to the hospital. He basically 'prescribes' some herbal remedies and 'homeopatic' treatments to 'cure' whatever is ailing the patient. As many of the remedies contain the natural form of several drugs (atropine, caffeine, penicillin) this can compound the issues with the patient. Also, he charges five times as much!
Another big issue I'm attempting to tackle is the waste disposal problem. Right now, all medical waste (blood, sharps, etc.) is thrown in a big pit and lit on fire about one a week. The problem is obvious. We have found kids playing in it many times and taking the contaminate trash to play with. I got the blessing of the Sisters to build an incinerator to handle the biomedical waste. Despite my significant experience burning things as a kid (sorry mom and dad!) I'm finding that constructing an appropriate device which reaches high temperatures is taking a little extra studying on my part.
Wish me luck (more so with the medicine man than the incinerator!)......
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