July 10th, 2016 by INMED

So I am finally posting in the blog about my trip to Uganda. I am working at The Surgery in Kampala and I have just finished my first week of the 4 week rotation! I am loving the experience so far. We arrived last Friday, July 1st in Kampala and spent the weekend getting settled in and meeting everyone who lives in the house with us. We are staying at Claire Infield’s house in Makindye. It is a bit out of the way but I love it here. There are 7 other people living in the house besides Ashley and I so it was a great way to instantly meet other like minded people and to have a group of friends. The first night we arrived the entire group was cooking a mass amount of chili for a house dinner so we were immediately included. It is really nice living with the group of people. We still have our private rooms but then can socialize as well. It completely remind me of living in the dorms at college. Private room but all communal common spaces so it’s been a really fun week.

We spent the weekend getting settled, figuring out transportation and running errands to prepare for the week. Monday morning we started working at the Surgery. Where we were suggested to live is actually 10km from work so we had to leave plenty early to try to get there on time, because the traffic is very crazy, especially on weekdays. I was told when we booked the rooms that Dr. Stockley, one of the main doctors I would be working with lives near Makindye so I may be able to get a ride from him to work most days. But on contacting him he actually bikes or runs to work most days so we decided to take Boda bodas from the Boda stand near our house. I briefly contemplated running to work with Dr. Stockley, but then immediately discarded the idea once I got here and saw all of the hills and dust, and how confusing all of the roads are. There is a Boda stand near our house, and Geoffrey is a great Boda driver who coordinates most of the rides for all the people in the house. He sort of runs the stand near us, and all of the other drivers look to him. Even though we were just taking bodas to work, 10 km is pretty far, and it takes 25-30 minutes and costs 11,000 shillings so the transportation cost will add up quickly to about 6$ a day on work days. Good thing my loan money came in on Monday!

At the Surgery we were introduced to all of the doctors and the staff and given a tour. There are 7 consultation rooms for regular office visits, along with a 24/7 Emergency room with 3 cubicles. There is also 3 inpatient rooms for people needing to stay overnight, along with a fully functioning laboratory for blood, stool, and urine tests, and X-Ray and Ultrasound. The quality of the facility really impressed me because it had most of what any clinic at home would have. There was also a Pharmacy inside to get all of the medications that were prescribed at the office visits. There are a good number of physicians that work there both foreign doctors, and local doctors. It seems to be about half of each. Usually there are 3 or 4 working at a time so that a lot of patients can be seen everyday.

One other thing that surprised me was that the clinic seems to be mostly ex pats who are visiting or living in Uganda, as well as Ugandans who have either private health insurance, or employer health accounts. This is because they charge for every aspect of care. The consultation, the laboratory tests, and the medication. This was a different patient population and situation than I was expecting, but definitely accounts for how the clinic has so many resources and such a high quality of patient care. For the first week I mostly spent my time shadowing and working with the physicians. I saw most of the patients with the Doctor, but took part in the physical exam and history taking. I am hoping to gain some more independence as time goes on, but for the first week I was completely content helping and observing. It takes some time to get used to new clinics and also to see how the visit differs from home because this clinic is almost a mix of family practice, and urgent care. There are many established patients, but we also see lots of visitors who have gotten sick while in Uganda.

Overall, it has been a great first week in Kampala and I look forward to continuing to practice my family medicine and tropical medicine knowledge, while still exploring a brand new foreign city, and making new friends the entire time!