Power Up Gambia Blog

Nine o’clock in the morning – time for rounds with the Cuban doctors here at SJGH. Every morning during rounds we see patients in the pediatric ward, adult medical ward, labor ward, and surgical ward. The Cuban doctors then head to the Out Patient Department to see patients alongside the Gambian nurses. People at home often ask me about what type of medical conditions the hospital sees each day so I thought I would list some of the patient conditions we saw this morning. It’s a long list…

• A five month old boy with a bulging fontanelle (part of the skull) probably due to an infection. After a course of antibiotics the swelling had subsided and his fever had improved.
• An emaciated 30 year old woman dying of AIDS.
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• An elderly woman (she did not know her age) with diabetes with a painful foot ulcer.
• An elderly man who has been unable to extend his knees for the last year and is physically stuck in a ‘butterfly’ position. He is unable to pay for the transportation to get to the main hospital in Banjul and even if he did find a way there he is unable to pay for a much needed X-ray of his spine.
• A woman with known epilepsy who had had three seizures yesterday. We were told that her seizures are not typical of epilepsy and so the doctors are unsure of the diagnosis.
• A young woman who had accidently burned herself with hot oil while cooking and had tried to cool the burn with water causing the oil to burst into flames. The skin on her left arm and shoulder is completely burned. She has been steadily improving until today when new blisters of unexplained origin appeared.
  
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• A child with a huge abscess under his arm. After draining the fluid out it was dressed to prevent infection. He was not happy about any of this – I found it hard to watch.
• A two year old girl who was bitten by a potentially rabid dog was given the first dose of the rabies vaccine.
• A young boy while working on his family farm was bitten a snake; he has been given anti-venom drugs here at the hospital. He is improving and should be fine. Dog, snake, and scorpion bites are all seen at SJGH.

Each of these patients has benefitted from the electricity and water that we have supplied to SJGH. Lab tests for infection, refrigeration for rabies vaccines and anti-venom, water to improve sterilization, and the fans to combat the unbearably hot weather have all made a difference. While on rounds today I was so proud to have been able to offer these patients more hope, yet at the same time saddened knowing that some of these patients will never be cured. I’m not sure if the woman with AIDS will be with us in the morning, despite everyone’s best efforts.