SHOCKED!

Shocked on admission, having iv fluids infused

*          Shocked due to severe gastro-enteritis, present for 48 hours, this little boy was on the verge of death.  His pulse was fast and thready, his skin elasticity had gone, and his eyes were sunken.  He was labouring to breath and semi-conscious.

improving after a couple of hours

He was treated with intravenous saline and then maintenance fluids.  Initially he continued to vomit but then started to settle.

*          Shocked that a child came in with a very swollen  right side of face  all due to a neglected dental abscess.  Shocked that in a world where we can unravel the human genome, perform extraordinary keyhole surgery, successfully transplant major body organs we can’t ensure the children of the world get basic dental care [photo not suitable for a non-medical audience]

*          Shocked that children still arrive having been to traditional healers and being subjected to cuts / scarification of the skin as in the photo.  This “treatment” is called “oburu” which means millet and the parents are told the cause of the child’s cough or difficulty in breathing is millet and they offer “millet extraction” to cure it.  In the photo the yellow arrows point to the areas of cuts done in the village in this child who actually has pneumonia and heart failure.

Even more serious is a practice known as “ebiino” where, usually in children with diarrhoea, the “healer” will dig around in the young child’s gums and extract an un-erupted tooth and hold it up saying it is a type of worm.  As most children with diarrhoea recover spontaneously it seems the healer has been successful in many cases so the practice is perpetuated.  Sadly in some children the procedure may lead to haemorrhage, sepsis and sometimes death.

We used to have a fairly comprehensive community health programme at Kisiizi supported by Tear Fund for many years.  We also had “eye safaris” where outreach teams took eye screening and care out to remote areas.  This work was supported by CBM, again for many years.  However these programmes were discontinued when funding ceased.  The main challenge is the cost of transport.

We do still have regular outreach clinics taking immunisation, child welfare basic screening, ante-natal screening and psychiatry and there is support for HIV patients through our Hope Ministries programme which includes the support of many orphans. 

Seeing the above patients makes us very keen to see a lot more health promotion, public health education etc to try and avoid such issues.

We are working on a draft strategy document to submit to Management for discussion to try and produce a 5 year plan with agreed priorities.  We think the community and health education dimensions are every important and will certainly include these in the proposals.