Health Care: The view from Africa

Here in the USA, we often complain about our health care system: it costs too much, too many people don't have insurance, the wait it too long, getting a referral is such a hassel, fill in the blank with our latest "problem" with health care.

This morning I got an email from a friend who works in a hospital in Africa and it puts things in perspective.

Excerpt:

The occupancy rate at the hospital varied from 107 to 110 in the months of November to December. With the over abundance of rain this past season, the malaria season dragged on. Many young children required blood transfusions.

For those of you in the northern hemisphere, you should be enjoying the winter season with the snow and cool weather. The weather here is also cooler. The temperature can get below 20 degree C in the morning (that’s about 68 degree F)! It’s cold for people who are accustomed to temperatures in the low 90’s. To keep warm, many local people keep a fire in the house. Many burn victims arrive at the hospital, especially children who get too close to the fire.

The highway which runs in front of the hospital quickly deteriorated with the extra rains this season. Potholes dot the highway, which provide our slalom. Unfortunately, many poorly maintained cars have stumbled over them and flipped over, especially the overloaded taxis. Many of the injured wound up at our hospital needing blood and surgery. The end of the year marks the cotton harvest. Many more overloaded trucks will ply along the same road creating more hazards.

In the midst of this busy season, on a typical Monday, one of the doctors did the hospital rounds, examined patients in the outpatient clinic, did an emergency surgery and had a late lunch at 3 PM. She finished with the patients in the clinic, did more surgery, had supper at 10 PM then returned to do surgery on a woman with a retained placenta. Since the woman was bleeding too much, blood was ordered from the lab. There was none available! The doctor discovered that she had the same blood type so she gave a pint of her own blood and finished the operation. After this case, a man came in with a strangulated hernia and needed attention right away. The doctor thought she could finish the case quickly. The operation ran into a snag and it took longer than she thought and longer than her body could hold up. She fainted at the operating table due to the work and donating blood. She actually fainted a second time while calling another doctor to finish the work. Needless to say, she arrived home only at 5AM Tuesday morning.

After reading something like that, I can only be grateful for what we have here in the USA.

And reading the story of that lady doctor who gave her blood for a patient and worked until she could work no more showed the kind of love and sacrifice that made me think of what St. John wrote long ago: This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

Here are links to some internation aid agencies I have donated to in the past:
World Vision
Doctors Without Borders
Americares
Habitat for Humanity
Serving in Mission