I had an opportunity to witness one of the monthly comprehensive medical clinics while visiting. It is a sight to see! Over a hundred people being treated or waiting to be treated by a general doctor, eye doctore, pre-natal doctor, and dentist. Then there is someone dispensing and administering medicine. This goes on all day, and while the doctors see hundreds of people, many people go home because the sun sets or they run out of certain supplies. I’m being told that diseases have been reduced by 85%. And in fact, the cost of staff and medical supplies is lower now than a year ago because of this. How cool is that!
In addition, the medical clinic is 98% done and already operational. We interviewed the doctor who briefed us on the most common ailments he treats. He brought in one woman and her 18 month old girl. She was suffering from severe and prolonged malnutrition. He pointed out her light hair that was falling out. Her legs were too skinny and weak to support her because her muscles couldn’t properly develop. The doctor said he could “fix” the physical ailments but not the stunted brain development. He said this was common because the women don’t know how to properly prepare the food that they have. The food is dried to the point where there is hardly any nutrition left. The only reason the mother brought her child in was because the girl last ate a week ago and had been coughing uncontrollably.
This is a sad story. But with the completion of the medical clinic, people from all over the region can now access medical care with REAL medicine every single day of the week. This is something we take for granted, but in Bulike it was only available if a family had enough money and the transportation to get to the closest hospital 2-3 hours away. Another woman I interviewed said that normally what would happen is that they would just wait for the child to die because there’s nothing they could do. Now there is hope. Please watch the video below for a visual tour of UCSS’s medical care ministry.
youtube http://youtu.be/mib9QHi4qT4