Healthcare professional in Angola face a plethora of obstacles that would bewilder and derail most North Americans. Let me introduce you to my Angolan physician colleague, Dr. Alberto Alfredo. Raised in the interior of this nation, he took advantage of the rare opportunity to study junior college level nursing at the famed Kalukembe Hospital about the same time I served there in the 1990s.
Dr. Alberto’s pursuit of higher training launched him on a ten-year journey through medical education, interrupted by civil war and economic catastrophe. For most of his study, books were not available. During clinical hospital experiences, both medications and faculty were frequently absent. Being from the interior, he faced racism and bigotry throughout the university. And all the while, Alberto was working as a teacher to support his wife and nine children.
When you come to CEML Hospital today, you’ll meet a man whose character has been tested in most every conceivable way; one who has continued developing excellent patient care skills; and a man who year-after-year continues serving the most disadvantaged of his people.