Hospital Visit

It's been a long time, I know. I am sorry for that. It's party because I felt I didn't have anything to write about, and partly because of laziness. But I've given myself a pep talk, and here goes.

We are wrapping up the outreach in Benin. All the patients are gone, and the hospital is closed. There were a few people we had to send to clinics, and one we had to send to a hospital because she had a giant wound that was not healing. We head to Tenerife next week, and will hopefully arrive about 10 days later.

A couple days ago I went to two different hospitals here in Cotonou. One of the day volunteer translators brought a group of 5 nurses and 1 dietitian. The first was a public hospital. All the units were in separate buildings, connected by outdoor corridors. We went in to the emergency room and saw about 10 people laying on gurneys with ancient-looking IV fluids running (although about half had run dry). They were people who couldn't pay the hospital fees. They were waiting for money before they could be admitted. Some had enough money for the IV fluids and a few drugs. We walked around the corner and were hit by the most horrendous smell. There was a man laying there with just one leg covered by a sheet and flies all over the sheet. We were told he had been in a motorbike accident and needed his leg amputated, but couldn't pay for it. He was waiting for money to be brought to him and his leg had become gangrenous. He had waited there one week. He was clearly out of it, breathing extremely fast, glazed over eyes, and laying in his own feces. Now here are some sad financial facts: one night in the hospital is $9, or for a private "VIP" room about $60. To have your leg amputated costs about $160, plus $12 for the CT scan.

There IS some good happening to health care in Benin, however. For example, the government will pay for any Beninese person who needs dialysis. We witnessed this, and were amazed by the modern-looking dialyses machines. The government also covers cancer costs and cesarean sections, which brings me to my next hospital visit. It was a Catholic hospital a few miles away from the public hospital. Things looked a little better here, but we still felt like we were in 1940. We talked to many of the patients, heard there stories, and prayed with them - there is no HIPPA here in Benin. We walked by the operating theater and saw that it was in use. There was a woman on the table, about to have a cesarean section. Our tour guide asked if we would like to watch. We quickly agreed, but refused to take pictures when he insisted we could. We all watched through a window. I have to say, from what I could see they kept it sterile (I guess gauze could work as a face mask?), but their monitoring equipment was a little lacking - the woman had a pulse-oximeter on and a manual blood pressure cuff. As there was no infant bed in the room I wondered what would happen with the baby. Well, as soon as the baby was delivered and the cord was cut she was placed on a tray and handed, through the window we were observing from, to a nurse on the other side. The nurse then brought her to the nursery. When we asked if we could see the baby the nurse was more than happy to bring her outside where we were waiting. We all got to hold her and take pictures before the mother held her - quite strange.

The next day on the ship some nurses got money together to bring to the man who needed his leg amputated. Unfortunately by the time they got to him he had died. Apparently his brother had scrounged up the money, the man got the surgery, but then died - more than likely of sepsis.

The hospital visit was definitely an eye opening experience, and it has made me greatly appreciate health care in the U.S., even when you think you have good dental insurance and end up paying an arm and a leg to have 3 wisdom teeth taken out. At least I could have the darn things taken out.

Well, I hate to end on a sad note like this, so maybe I will blog about my safari experience in a couple days. No promises though. Excited to see everyone very soon!!