Issue no 4, 1999 -- English edition -- home
Page: -- Contents -- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, (6), 7, 8
Eye specialist Sture Nyholm, from Jakobstad, Finland, whose great efforts in Kenya and Sudan we have described earlier, was asked if an "eye bus" would aid his work. The idea was to make it easier to get out to the remote regions where he could restore sight to many blind.
"I don't think one could get through on the poor roads with a bus. But if I were allowed to make a wish, it would be for a Landcruiser (large jeep) with powerful engine. There is a lot that I need to have with me-two operation tables, two surgeon chairs, an eye microscope, portable autoclave, operation lamp, gas cylinders, portable generators, etc.-but I can always find some hut or building to use for operations."
Dr Nyholm works at Sabatia Eye Hospital in Kenya:
"At the hospital we lack a laser. This means we can do nothing for all the diabetes patients with eyeground changes. They must be sent to Nairobi, but since most can't afford the trip there, they become blind."
In his letter, Dr Nyholm also mentions other equipment that he could use:
Sture Nyholm says he will gladly accept "second hand" machines, which he hopes to find in hospitals in the Nordic countries. The Doctor Bank will accept tips and suggestions.
The five wells dug with funding from the Rotary clubs in Sweden work well. This is the recent verdict by Doctor Bank Coordinator Benny Assarsson in Sweden and Bengt Sundh in Kenya. Hundreds of families fetch clean water from the wells. On each is nailed a plaque -- on this well it reads "Donated by Malmö Heleneholm RC, Sweden". This is so that all should know who contributed with the money.
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On this well the plaque reads "Donated by Malmö Heleneholm RC, Sweden". |
The ear specialists that the Doctor Bank sends to Africa-some 20 since 1991-are like their colleagues in other specialties dependent on local staff members. These may however have some blank spots in their training. Some of them can come to Sweden, most recently Mr Buxton Ogola from St Elizabeth Mission Hospital in Kenya.
"The Swedish doctor teams are in Kenya 2-5 times per year. During the times in between, patients must be cared for by our capable 'clinical officers'," says Dr Claude Laurent, from Umeå, Sweden, who has undertaken to be coordinator for this activity. "We don't always have the time to give them highly concentrated further training in Kenya. Because of this, we in 1995 took the initiative to bring some of them to Sweden to add those parts of the specialty they lack."
The trips have been funded by stipends from the Swedish Rotary Development Fund.
"Each day, Buxton followed us in our work at the clinic, and in this way we could 'custom-fit' his further training. After a week in Umeå and Skellefteå, he travelled on to Falun, to then return to his hospital in Kenya."
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Buxton Ogola at ear-nose-throat surgery in Falun. |
The hospitals in East Africa are in a very difficult economic situation. Fees at the state-run hospitals in Kenya are raised, patients become fewer, and for a large part of the population it is inconceivable to be able to pay for an operation. Maseno Hospital, a former British mission hospital, where the Doctor Bank maintains a surgeon since 1992 and a jeep-doctor since 1994, also struggles with great problems.
The hospital belongs to the Kenyan Anglican Church. The only funding is from what the patients can pay. Sugeon Inger Heintz-Kollberg, who was the Doctor Bank's first doctor in Maseno along with husband Stig, has worked there every year, and she recently returned from there.
"The hospital's finances are terrible. Patient fee revenue is minimal and does not even cover the wages for the 83 employees. I am seriously worried about the hospital's future."
Lars Braw comments:
The worry is surely motivated. The Doctor Bank efforts during eight years have meant an enormous amount and will not stop. Possible solutions are being investigated.
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Dr Inger Heintz-Kollberg, from Vänersborg, Sweden, has worked as surgeon at Maseno Hospital every year since 1992, and recently returned from there. |
"I know that the Rotary Doctor Bank has received many reports where the doctors affirm how much they appreciated working in Maseno. I wish to be included in this group of 'happy doctors'.
So begins a letter from Dr Hannu Pösö, from Helsinki, Finland, who worked as jeep-doctor on the so-called Maseno Line in West Kenya. He goes on to say:
"I believe that this work fits with the 'instinct' of all doctors. Help the patients where the need is greatest. I hope that this important Doctor Bank work can go on without problems in future. Each day I heard from patients and my medical assistants that without the Doctor Bank mobile clinics, the poorest villages would be completely without help."If I can be free from my work in Finland, I very much want to return as jeep-doctor," says Dr Pösö. He additionally has interesting views about e.g. the local health committees that are to be at each clinic.