Issue no 2, 2000 -- English edition -- home
Page: -- Contents -- 1, 2, (3), 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
We have met surgeon Svein Haugstvedt, from Gothenburg, Sweden, many times in News from the Rotary Doctor Bank. This spring he returned to Congo to visit the mission hospital in Lemera, operate selected cases, and plan for the future.
"It was with some trepidation I arrived in Rwanda, to from there continue by car to Congo," he relates."The political tension had increased since I was there last. Several leading people in our mission were not allowed to leave the area where they lived. The nights are frighteningly quiet. The hospital runs at half speed because of the uncertain situation. People are afraid to be in their villages and farm the land. This leads to the dominating disease being undernourishment. We do what we can with nutrition projects and direct feeding of the children. It is hard to meet a people who want nothing more than to live in peace, but have suffered from the deep conflicts in other countries. The UN has decided to send troops to the region. Perhaps this can prevent a new catastrophe."
"Some more serious paediatric surgeon cases had been collected, which I operated on along with local doctors. I met the first doctors to be educated at the mission university in Bukavu. It gives a feeling of gratitude to participate in building a future for a country with so many and so great problems. The Congolese have a wonderful ability to believe despite everything in the future."
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Dr Haugstvedt among other things operated some more severe paediatric surgery cases. |
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A typical case of severe undernourishment -- and they are very common. |
"It is easy to feel panic when seeing the onrush of patients,"
writes jeep-doctor Sven Åke Hedström, from Falkenberg, Sweden, in a letter from the Ugunja line in Kenya.
"We had on average 76 patients per day. Some days, the number was far too great, with many severely ill. At the same time, it was important to take care of them in the best way, because they had come far, most on foot, and waited long. Given the limited resources at hand, it was important to get as exact and detailed case history as possible to secure a probable diagnosis and give correct treatment. We could not attain this goal to 100 percent, but my opinion is that the team on the jeep line performed well. I wish to emphasize the importance of choosing doctors with a broad professional experience. This is nothing for the very young doctors."It seems as if among those seeking aid there is an over-confidence in jeep-doctors from abroad. Many hopeless cases turn up, and sometimes it was like an emergency room with the desperately ill.
"The work as jeep-doctor felt meaningful, and I will gladly return," ends Dr Hedström. "It is an excellent way to bring up and apply one's collected experiences. Kenya needs us, and we can learn from its people to manage different situations in life."
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Overloaded cars -- "matabus" -- cause many road accidents. |
"Kenya has no tradition of dental care. It is like Sweden 70 years ago. Ordinary people don't ask for a dentist until they have a toothache and want the tooth pulled."
So says dentist Ingegerd Gustafsson, from Umeå, Sweden, in an article over two pages in the local newspaper.
"I have been out in the schools in Kenya and examined the children there. What I find is that neither children nor teachers know anything about teeth. Most don't have a toothbrush. If they lose a tooth among others, they don't think it matters much. People are used to seeing gaps in teeth."When I come, they clear a classroom in the school. There is no lighting. I stand with back to a window, and the children come up one by one. In 3000 children, I find 300 who are badly in need of dental care."