Only in Africa

Yesterday was probably the craziest day so far. Something came up and the primary health care provider couldn't come to the clinic. As the only person there with schooling beyond grade school, I was asked to "do my best". As soon as I showed up to the clinic there was a queue of people who had walked for miles to get help. I have been studying a flow chart that outlined symptoms of common diseases in the area and what to prescribe in each case. I've also been working in the clinic for a week seeing how to treat different cases. With the help of a translator, I saw over 40 patients - 90% of them infants. A lot of them had pneumonia or upper respiratory infections, some malaria, and some ear infections. I had a rapid test for suspected malaria cases so that helped. A few wounds and septic burns came in that I also got to treat. There were a few cases that seemed quite severe so I referred them to the hospital which is about a 45 minute drive away. The problem with that is that it costs money to get a taxi or matatu to Kilifi and frankly, if it costs money - it can't be afforded. Today Valerian came into the clinic and looked over the clinical notes and told me that I did a great job. No pictures yet, but I hope to put some up soon. Only in Africa, right?