Monday July 4th
Tragically one of the junior doctors here Marvin was involved in a road traffic accident at the weekend which has left him with a fracture of one of the bones in his neck (odontoid peg) and has been transferred to the neurosurgical unit in Kampala. That’s a significant blow personally to him and his family but also has an impact on the manpower situation here. We are hoping there may be some better news later today after he has had a CT scan. For the moment Im running the male and female wards which are both pretty full with patients on the floor.
The hospital has been very busy today with much to do. The 28year old woman from Saturday died last night which was so sad. There is another young man who has been admitted with TB and HIV who is having pus drained from his chest each day at present so I hope and pray we will be able to do more for him over the next few days and weeks. Another young woman of 16 has developed a widespread cancer of her abdomen (juvenile granulosa tumour) which might be amenable to chemotherapy but when I discussed this with the father there was utter dismay in his face at the impossibility of being able to take her to Kampala for the chemotherapy she would require.
Ralph Settatree, a retired gynaecologist left today-he was the person who had given us a lift on our way up here. He has worked tirelessly to talk to so many people about the situation here. For a whole host of reasons there is a large financial deficit which somehow will need dealing with but I think it’s a huge challenge to everyone here in much the same way people are finding the financial difficulties at home so difficult to deal with. We were sorry to see him go as he had been a very cheery person to have around. We now are the sole residents at the guest house at least for a night or two.
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