March 9th, 2017 by jasongulati

I’m currently laid up at the house in Makindye recovering from some kind of intestinal bug. I developed some loose stools on Saturday but it was all pretty manageable until it took off yesterday. The rest of the house got something too, it might be a two-in-one infection. So I took the day off and enjoyed some bland noodles with broth. Figure while I’m down I could write an update.

I started working on Monday. I must admit I was a little apprehensive upon discovering that The Surgery is a private hospital that caters largely to expats and privately insured Ugandans. I had told myself and others that I was coming here to help the needy.

But it’s been so far a fantastic experience. Because while I am serving more affluent people, the diseases that show up are still the same. Tropical diseases don’t discriminate by income. And the dynamic of this kind of facility was something I had always planned to investigate down the road in Thailand.

The patients and the physicians at The Surgery come from all over the world, which has provided a lot of unique experiences over just a few days. I’ve been working with Giuseppe, an Italian physician, and together we’ve seen patients from all over Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and all the way back to the US. We see as much hypertension management as we do bilharzia (it’s so common I’m honestly planning on getting tested for it before I leave, especially in light of the new symptoms). There is no shortage of zebras either, as we had a patient walk himself in only to discover he was in the acute phases of a malaria, cirrhosis, and a GI bleed with background HIV. In working with this doctor, there has also been a lot of comparing/contrasting between how things are done in the EU, the US, and here. Made for some interesting story sharing.