GHANA - DAY 5

Third shift at the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital, a visit to the mortuary and BBQ with dancing at the house!

It was super hot today, and although there were fewer patients in A&E, I didn't stop.

My day started with the biggest, deepest necrotic ulcer I've ever seen. The patient was triaged and assigned a bed, he was very poorly and before he could be taken to his bed he needed to be cleaned due to the smell. My instinct is ALWAYS to help. Here the majority of the non medical healthcare is undertaken by the family. They bring food, drink, sheets for the bed (to go over the plastic sheet they need to pay 10 cedis for) and anything else the patient may need. Including medicine that the doctor prescribes on the rounds and the family have to go and get. So this cleaning (not wound cleaning) was to be done by the patients wife. Who looked worn out and upset. So I helped her. And the nurse looked at me like I had two heads!

I completely take for granted getting a piece of tissue for a spillage, a glass of water for a thirsty patient and food for when they've spent a few hours with us and must be hungry. At home I think nothing of grabbing an extra mineral water incase they finish the first one, and winding off far too much paper roll when said water ends up on the floor of the truck! 🤦🏻‍♀️ These people get NOTHING for free. They arrive so sick they cannot walk/breathe/talk as they've waited so long and then have to basically pay their way through treatment that is delivered in less than ideal conditions and timescales. It is heartbreaking to see.

As I walk back to triage, two patients have been brought in. Both in wheelchairs. As I approach the patient nearest me I have a fleeting thought that there isn't anything we can do, but start forward to check... The nurse I'm working with grabs my arm and nods towards the other patient "triage him, what do you think is wrong with this one?".... I reply "I think they might be dead..." And she nods. Simple as that. I move to the next one and she asks the family to move their dead relative to the gurney in the corner and someone gets one of the screens. I triage the other patient with the student nurses at the hospital on their first ever placement and life goes on around the dead body.

When I enquired as to where the body would be taken I was told the mortuary. So I asked if I could go and see... They looked shocked that I'd asked, but were happy for me to go. It was an experience that I'll never forget. One where you're not entirely sure what to expect, not completely surprised by what you see, but still blown away (not in a good way). It is the only place I have been asked not to photograph since being here, so there are none of the inside. The primitive setting and lack of resources again shows. There is a system they follow, a process the dead go through before the family receive the body of their loves one... But not before they've paid. The most profound thing I've seen is many, many bodies which are waiting to be collected and are identified by a ripped piece of cardboard with a number written on it. I'll process this for a while as yet.

The remainder of the shift was filled with lovely interactions with amazing clinicians, doing the best they can with the resources they have and after the drug round I headed out to the Tro-tro. As I left the hospital the 'ulcer patient's' wife said "are you going home?" I said I was and that I was back Tuesday... She replied "my lovely doctor lady, you were wonderful to us, thank you...".
Just about finished me off!!! 😭🤣

Tomorrow we're heading towards Mole for our weekend safari trip and so we needed to pack and organise for that. After spending some time in the pool, we had the Thursday night BBQ and dancing. It was good fun, and got us all ready for a quick meeting regarding getting packed for tomorrow.

I'm going to bed a little subdued. Today I saw a lot, I realised a lot and I'll take all that forward with me. It showed me that a little kindness, in a cruel world can actually make a massive difference to those people. Such a small amount of effort on my part helped her feel a little less overwhelmed by the whole thing. I'll think of them often.

Mole tomorrow!! Excited much 😊

**Photos taken and shared with permission**Weiterlesen