An American Male Nurse Volunteers in a Hospital in a Village in Nepal: The Dedicated Doctors and their Hospital (finale of the series)
I spent about a week and a half volunteering in the hospital. A lot of the time was spent sitting next to Dr. Ran’s or Dr. Rog’s desk while they assessed a patient. Much of the rest of the time was spent upstairs watching one of them use the ultrasound machine on a patient.
The pic below is the ulstrasound department. Not really a department, just a room on the second floor with the ultrasound machine. Many of the things they used it for would be done with a CT scan or an MRI in the states. This little ultrasound machine is a lot cheaper so it was their go to machine. They used it to assess the liver, pancreas, kidneys, bladder, prostate, heart... You get the picture. They also used it to look for puss from an abscess, and of course to look at fetuses.
Speaking of puss filled abcesses, Donald Trump tweet- I kid, I’m kidding, take it easy. ...Sheez.
This is the procedure room. It’s the room where they do procedures. !!!! Ha.
In this room I watched Dr. Rog cut puss out of an abscess in a monk’s inner thigh. It was done with a local anesthetic (Lidocaine shots). The monk lost his zen-ness during the procedure. From the look on his face and the stifled yells, I gather it was painful...
They didn’t have pre-packaged sterile instruments and bandages. The little silver pot held the sterile equipment. They’d send it off to a larger hospital that has a sterilizer and get it sent back to them. Let me just say that if I have to get anything stuck into me while I’m here, I will be watching where it came from and it’s journey to my skin with great focus (if I’m conscious).
This is Dr. Rog’s desk and chair. Being the junior doctor who has yet to complete his specialization studies, he only gets the single window and his chair is even less nice than the senior physician’s chair. I don’t know why he chose to not take the plastic off the chair... Maybe he put the plastic over it? I never asked.
It was telling watching Dr. Rog’s face compared to the face of Dr. Ran while assessing a patient. I could see Dr. Rog’s mind whirring and accessing in overload as patient’s told him of their ills. It was the look of someone figuring it out as it unfolds (having had that look on my face too much, I’m familiar with it). Dr. Ran has been there done that. It was fun to watch both of them...
Dr. Rog told me a story of going to the Dakshinkali Temple animal sacrifices when he was eight years old. He was separated from his parents and caught in the throng of the crowd in front of the alter for over an hour, then he slipped and fell in animal blood. ...He doesn’t like going there anymore.
This is the hospital’s state of the art Microbiology lab, just like on CSI. I went in there, and a red-headed lab tech wearing sunglasses turned his head slowly toward me, took off his dark sun-glasses and wearily proclaimed, “I think we got ourselves another homicide.” Okay, that didn’t happen, the room was usually empty...
This is the scary looking Maternity ward and labor room, looking extra scary slightly out of focus with the curtains drawn and no lights on. Dr. Ran told me they rarely use it because mothers don’t make it to the hospital in time. The area has many mid-wives for that reason...
One morning a woman came in to be assessed by Dr. Rog. She had taken two types of day after abortion pills and was feeling pain and nausea. These pills are sold over the counter at pharmacies without any kind of prescription or doctor’s supervision. Apparently they are as easy to by as ibuprofen. Dr. Ran was perturbed, maybe not with the woman but the pharmacist who so willingly sold the woman the pills without guidance. He told the woman to go back to the pharmacist and ask him what to do...
This is the ECG machine which is kept in a dusty cardboard box. At least they have one...
The X-ray room with a control panel that looked like a prop from a 1950’s Sci-Fi movie...
And finally, these are the two wonderful and talented doctor’s who held the fort down every day. Dr. Ran is in front cheering us on “Go Travelman, go!” No, he was really miming lifting weights because the other volunteer was talking to him about going to the gym and lifting weights (That’s really the conversation)...
It was a great learning experience. I felt bad because I had to go back to KTM one morning earlier than expected (didn’t realize my ride was in the morning and not the evening). They had planned on giving me a send off and a “gift.” Dr. Ran was a bit disappointed. Dr. Rog wasn’t there so I didn’t get to say goodbye to him. Dr. Ran said that he hoped that they had taught and shared with me to my benefit. He was very gracious, so much so that it made me feel guilty for thinking that he didn’t think a whole lot of me. If you ever get the chance, volunteer. Even if you end up only observing as I did. Collect good Karma.
Travelman log, day 192. Figuring out how to get to India. Looks like I’ll have to fly because of the visa. !steemitworldmap 26.6127 lat 85.2637 long Volunteering Part 5, The Good Doctors and their Hospital-Pharping, Nepal, d3scr 322 Followers and counting, 948.9. steem earned. Rep 59. Travelman out
I would've passed out, if I watched someone having puss cut out of their leg! I guess I was never destined to be in the medical profession! Isn't amazing what medicines are available over the counter in Asia, they will chuck nearly anything at you and are obsessed in taking soemthing if they even have a common cold! I always get funny looks when they ask me if I have taken any medicine and I say NO! I think most people here are immune to 70% of the pharmaceuticals they've had thrown at them.
That’s mild compared to what I’ve participated in as a nurse (while casually talking to co-workers about weekend plans, lol).
After seeing the medical in a 3rd world, it makes me grateful to be healthy! The closest hospital to me is four floors and has seen earthquake damage. You can put you hand through the walls on the third and fourth floors. Most of the windows are broken and pigeons fly through the rooms. And don't get me started on the cockroaches that on the floors, walls and beds! Makes you adventure seem clean and sanitary...
Maybe they could get the pigeons to carry messages from the lab. Where is it that you are?
Northern Nicaragua. Tourists usually see the pristine beaches, bask in the sun and perhaps catch a glimpse of the volcanoes. But when you live here it's a different story. Even paradise has some warts!
Cool story travelman. A little concerning that doctor sent the woman back to the pharmacy for advice...
I was curious about that. I gave him the benefit of the doubt based on everything else I saw him do with patients. I’m hoping that if she was really in need of his immediate care he would have done whatever needed doing. Still it bugged me and I held my tongue.
i think Dr rog wants to keep his chair alive and new for long time ; After when the plastic was removed he always feel the feeling that he is sitting in new chair............(My logic)
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You fulfilled part of your volunteer duty by sharing what you observed! I've never been to a small clinic like this before, makes me more aware of how many of how many of them must be out there with doctors working their whole lives to serve their spread-out communities.