Tour De l'hôpital...hospital Tour
It's Tueseday....working day! We got up bright and early because today we start our actual work which we came here for. Breakfast is served everyday at 7 am it consists of some French baguettes, jam, coffee or tea. Simple but more than sufficient. As good guests we went to our meeting point nice and early,couldn't have anyone waiting on us now could we. We sat around and enjoyed the scenery and waited. And waited.....waited some more. Yea we pretty much waited some more after that! You guys know that people usually wait on me as I'm always the last one to arrive so this was refreshing to be on the other side of tardiness lol
At last....the Director came to get us. This hospital director is an impressive man: He is a physician specialized in a laundry list of things: gynecologist, general medicine, internal medicine,surgeon, administrator and the list goes on. He is serious but in a friendly way. He leads us to the board room to meet with a few staff members. It was a real experience! The entire hospital was represented head of each department, nursing director, director and many more. They all introduced themselves and so did we and there was a very interesting presentation about the hospital we really learned a lot. After the meeting we got a grand tour of the hospital about 31 buildings. The main impression is that the administration works really well with the means that they have and make the best of the circumstances. Most buildings are showing signs of aging and are in need of refurbishing. Nursing try to adhere to hygiëne and sterility but obviously lack the means and facility to execute the proper protocols. Maternity is a 37 bed department ran by the gynaecologist who has 1 assistant. There are 4 staff midwives who are aided by logistic workers and hygiene assistents. Women labor in a special laboring ward which holds 6-8 beds and deliver in the delivery room where there are about 4 beds next to each other. No privacy. Men wait outside or at home during the birth of their baby. The gynaecologist was really taken by surprised when I declared that men are encouraged to stay with a laboring woman. What!? During labor? So what do they do there? Encourage the woman?? When I said yes he shook his head. hahaha I took that gesture as one of incomprehension and slight disapproval. Funny man Dr Jean....
They strive to offer good quality prenatal care even though sometimes it is a struggle to reach the population. I inquired about the main cause of maternal deaths (the facilities claims 12 deaths in 2018) and the main cause is hemorrhaging (excessive bleeding), anemia (blood disorder) and uterine rupture. The calamities usually occur because of issues with transportation and the inability to reach a health care facility on time. Such a pity....transportation, electricity and water supply seem to be the main problems plaguing health care. Prematurity is also a great health risk. When in need of specialized help babies are often put in a taxi to drive hours to the nearest university hospital. It's apt to take in but I already expected most of these problems. It still seems unfair to these children .... where you are born is such a determining factor in wether you make it or not....my words are finished for now....
