A Busy Clinic

Our clinic has been really busy the last two days. In addition to regular stuff people come for, we have had quite a few emergencies. One was a two year old boy. He came in with severe malaria, pneumonia and was also very malnourished. He looked like a child during the famine. Our doctors are treating the malaria and pneumonia and then are referring them (the child and his parents) to World Vision for nutrition counseling/rehabilitation.

We also had a man whose foot got stuck in the wheel of a motorcycle. Bike and motor bike accidents are common here. This guy had his heel and achilles tendon detached. Our doctor told him he needed to go to Wau for surgery. However, the man said no. He preferred to go to a “traditional healer” which is a witch doctor. The witch doctors here are deceptive. They give false hope and actually endanger people's lives by not giving them real treatment. For example, if someone has a bullet wound, the witch doctor will say some mumbo jumbo and supposedly pull out the bullet. In reality, it's one he already had and was hiding. Now the patient thinks he is better, but really is not. Instead of going for real treatment, they go home and end up dying. It's really sad. Recently, we had a man with severe malaria come to the clinic. Unfortunately, he first went to a witch doctor. The witch doctor just cut his skin several times (like a tic tac toe board). So when he finally came to us, he was really sick. If you let malaria go untreated for a long time, it can be deadly.

Daily I am amazed by our clinic staff. They work so hard, in extreme heat, to help so many people.