This Sunday morning I enjoyed a stroll through the village next to our hospital where patients and families await their consultations, treatments, and rehabilitation. Look carefully at this scene. Some people are shivering, for it’s only about 50 degrees F. In the center a silver pot of cornmeal is boiling on a rudimentary charcoal […]
A time-tested right of conscience for healthcare professionals is the offering of free or discounted care to people in need. Prior the advent of managed care in the 1980s it was common for hospitals and healthcare professionals in the US to give such assistance on a case-by-case. But outside of an emergency department, today’s
A hospital attendant uncharacteristically approached me as I stepped out of the Jeep this morning. “Doctor Nicolau, we have a case for you in emergency.” His worry was justified. The child is just six years old, and I found him unconscious, with heaving respirations, and totally limp on exam. His BP only 60/0 and
My colleague, Steve Foster, is a renowned Canadian surgeon. In 1975, he and his classy wife Peggy arrived in Angola in one of the bloodier phases of this nation’s civil war. As a young physician right out of tropical medicine school I enjoyed a six-month residency on site at Kalukembe Hospital under Dr. Foster’s
This morning the mother of this two-week old girl declared “My baby Estele suddenly stopped nursing and now her entire body is limp!” Sure enough, the girl’s temp was quite low, her pulse rapid, and reflexes very poor. In North America we would be very suspicious of sepsis or pneumonia. But this is the
Angola was home of one of Africa’s longest running wars: 1961-2003. The use of child soldiers was not only common but accepted an a norm of combat. Yesterday I was consulted by a man, Feliciano, who as a soldier in 1999 was shot in the hip. As you can see, the bullet destroyed his
Picture this: I’m seeing a stream of people suffering from malaria, typhoid fever, deep bone infections, stroke, skin cancer, and then… “Doctor, I can’t sleep, I hear voices constantly, my entire body is burning, my brain is splitting open, and people want to kill me.” The spectrum and burden of mental illness in poorer
“Happy are the poor in spirit, the gentle, the merciful, the peacemakers” – This is the message today from Matthew chapter five, delivered by Pastor Moses in the village next to our hospital. Here amid very crowded, humble, and cold conditions reside families of patients who’ve come for treatment, as well as those who
What’s the importance of dental care? This child arrived at Lubango Evangelica Medical Center, in Angola of southern Africa, with an abscess draining from under his chin, and with infection racing down his neck and into the chest. The source of his infection? A tooth abscess. The risks of his infection? Loss of his
This 7-year old fell one month ago, injuring her left leg. Mother brought her today to the Lubango Evangelical Medical Center, where I found the girl draining copious pus from several tracts just below her knee. Can you guess her diagnosis? Take a look at the X-ray: She fractured the tibia,