Namaste! Today, being Saturday, is a day of rest in Nepal, and the only full day off from hospital duties. We just went for a great short walk up to a vantage point over the Tansen Valley, and the Himalayas in the distance. Earlier on today, we went to Nepali church - 2 hours of not really understanding anything, but a good opportunity to read my bible, and Cat hummed hymns to herself.
I feel like I've finally settled into the hospital routine after about 2 and a half weeks in Tansen. The days start at 7:45 with a short devotion, and then handover from the night interns. The days usually go through til 5, from Sun-Fri, with Wed being a half day sometimes. For the first week and a bit, I was on maternity. Only 1/5 Nepali women give birth in a hospital or clinic of some sort, and very few come for antenatal checkups. I saw one lady who was coming for an antenatal check up, after her last pregnancy was very complicated. She had gone into labour in her village some hours away, however the baby was in a breech presentation (feet first), and the head was too big for the pelvis. For some hours, the baby lay half delivered while her relatives took her to hospital as fast as they could. When she finally presented she was in shock after much bleeding, the baby had long died, and only with extensive resuscitation did she manage to survive the pregnancy. Many women are not so lucky to make it to the hospital when these complications arise. Just coming off O&G in Australia, only emphasised the contrast between maternal health here and at home. It's hard to imagine people wanting a 'natural birth' at home, when so often the natural history of preganancy is death (1/31 Nepali women will die in childbirth).
The hospital here is really well setup despite the shortage of resources. Though I wasn't able to get very involved on the maternity rotation, it has been good to observe a number of interesting things I haven't seen before in Australia and have my eyes opened to the need here in Nepal for better maternal care.
Our dinner is just about ready - daalbhaat!
Sounds like you guys are experienceing alot of things! I imagine that the difference between Aussie health care and Nepali(se?) health care could a bit frustrating at times... certainly in terms of basic health knowledge - its amazing how much we can take forgranted at home.
ReplyDelete& out of interest, is the church service very musical with lots of singing? or is it lots of talking?