“Again?” I hear you say, and yes it's true – after last month's lucky escape with the 3TC/Lamivudine and last week's semi-effective fix with the D4T/Stavudine, we've now run out of Alluvia and had to deal out tiny rations of tablets to all the patients who needed it last week. It was like a failed [and less extreme] version of the feeding of the 5000. Mthatha medical depot had none in stock and probably wouldn't deliver it anytime soon even if they did which left no other option than borrowing stock from our neighbouring hospital Madwaleni.
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| Road trip! |
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| Sounds inviting huh? |
And so it was that we were on the long, dusty road once again. It was an absolutely beautiful day and the Transkei landscape was all the more picturesque for it. I saw a signpost for 'Great Place' but sadly we didn't go there, bad times! After an hour we finally showed up at the hospital. I was interested to see what it was like in comparison to Zithulele and it's actually quite different even though the two hospitals are relatively close together. For starters it's a bit bigger and a lot more spread out – their TB and isolation wards are actually separate [aka isolated] as opposed to ours which are pretty much only isolated by doors and common sense. The most bizarre thing is that their OPD has an enormous flat screen TV! It beggars belief that funds were available for that when so many other basics are not provided. Their pharmacy is very cool :D I was actually jealous of it; clearly I am getting a bit attached to the job. I think I can narrow down the top three things that I liked about it:
1. It has a pharmacist, and a switched on one at that
2. It has rooms, plural
3. It has stock!
There was more stock in their back rooms than in our entire pharmacy at the moment which is a bit depressing...Anyway, we were there for a purpose, not just to see how the other half lived. Thabo had negotiated a swap: Salbutamol inhalers and ORSOL for Alluvia, Iodine solution, aqueous cream and Diclophenac. I think we got the better end of the deal :D Either way, it's great that the hospitals can work together to solve these kinds of problems.
After that we went for tea with Alistair, one of the doctors there. The staffing set up is a bit different to Zithulele as they don't have a core of experienced doctors, meaning that the community service M.O.s are the most senior. Must be pretty hard for them in their first year of practice after internship! He also took us for a very brief tour of the hospital, of which the only lasting impression I have are a mobbed ARV clinic which made ours look tame and some free flowing sewage going past the nurses quarters. Another win for rural medicine I think!
Back in Zithulele I had a lazy afternoon until everyone went to the beach for a swim in the sea and sundowners. It was possibly the most incredible sunset we've had since arriving:
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| Sunset over Lubanzi |
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