South African Hospitals and Refugees

Thank you so juch to those of you that have posted reactions on my weblog, i'm so pleased you are reading it and enjoying it, it's really nice to hear what you guys all think.

The weather in Durban is still fab, although I don't understand I don't seem to be changing colour at all! I think it must be that the sun isn't that strong despite it being hot, also I spend a lot of my time in and out the mobile clinic so I don't really spend long periods of time in the sun.

last week was another great week at Umthombo. I spent a morning in Durban's biggest non-private hospital, The Addington Hospital, with an 18 year old girl who lives on the street. I went with her after she came up to me the day before and told me she was worried she was pregnant, she is also HIV+. We worked out she was probably about 4 months gone. The poor girl was so worried, she already has a 1 year old boy who lives with family but she never sees him. I went with her to the hospital and was so appaulled by the care, if you can call it that, she received. We didn't see a doctor for about 3.5 hours, this I was prepared for, and when we did he was so so awful. He was asking me everything despite me telling him to ask the patient herself and he did not ask any past obstetric or gynae history at all. He was asking us to leave when I told him she had a child a year ago, I thought this was important for him to know. The next patient was in his consulting room before we had even stood up to leave! Maybe it's all the communication skills training I've had at Barts but I was so annoyed and did not feel happy leaving the consultation. The advice to HIV+ pregnant women in South Africa is quite different to the UK. Firstly, 3/10 babies are born with HIV as not many women can access anti-retrovirals needed to reduce the risk of transmission. Also, women are advised not to mix formula feeding with breast feeding and to stick to one or the other. This is because, without access to clean water, the risk of dysentry and malnutrition from formula feeding outweighs the risk of HIV. However, most babies who are HIV+ do not live beyond 3 years.

One afternoon last week I went to visit The Dream Centre, an AIDS hospice,  where there are several other volunteers. It was really interesting to look around and meet some of the patients. Some of the women were making bracelets and jewellery from beads and wire and selling them to visitors. This gave us a great idea to do this with some of the girls, and boys if they're interested, next week. So we have bought the materials and will do this as an activity next week.

On Friday we discovered a refugee camp in Durban where victims of xenophobia have been staying. When they saw our mobile health clinic they asked if we could go to them as they have lots of children and haven't been able to access health care. We turned up and a huge queue of people formed infront of the bus. It was mostly women with children ranging from 6 months to 2 or 3 years old, a little younger than we are used to. It was heartbreaking to see these babies and young children without access to clean water or soap. Most of the babies just had coughs but we did not have medicine to give these little ones so we are going back tomorrow with more supplies.

It's been a nice chilled out weekend. Yesterday I met some of the women who work for Umthombo for breakfast, which included a bottle of wine - my kind of women! We then went back to one of their flats to prepare for a party. This was great fun and the party was brilliant. It's really nice to get to know the people who live here. We all left at midnight and 13 of us piled into a pick-up truck/ buggy. It was hilarious, I have several bruises on my back from being squashed in the back of this buggy whilst going along very uneven South African roads.

I won't go on anymore. I can't believe it's my last week in Durban, I would recommend this place to anyone. Thanks again for responding to my messages, I love reading your reactions.

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