I just got back from a week of duty at probably the "worst" hospital in our country.
These are some of the things I observed and want to share with you:
1. Patients in that hospital come from very poor and uneducated farming families. The physicians and staff shout at them and yet they feel grateful that someone is "taking care" of their sick relatives.
2. The hospital is classed as 500-bed capacity but with only 65 dilapidated but real beds. Most pts sleep on folding beds which they bring or mats on the floor. Don't ask me how many cats, rats and roaches I saw. Too many to count.
3. There are NO free medical supplies. Pts are told to buy even gloves for the physicians and syringes. Many borrow money from loan sharks especially if the pt is their wife or are young mothers. It is in that hospital's pediatric ward that I heard the most awful sound -- a mother's frustrated cry when her 11 yr old son died bec they couldn't afford anymore the medicine for DHF (dengue).
4. Some are brought in with cc of Pneumonia and get diagnosed with PTB after several days. Maybe this has something to do with how medicines are given especially IVTTs. One syringe for one drug for all pts. without even bothering to sterilize the ports before injecting the drug.
5. Three Preterm neonates sleeping in 1 crib. An improvised bililamp (10 flourescent lamps) with flies and moths at night.
I could go on and on but I would rather think of how to help that hospital for now.
For those of you in First World countries, you have so much to thank for and I hope someday you can share them with us here.
