This morning I visited virtually every patient who is being cared for here at the Lubango Evangelical Medical Center. In the attached photo I’m seeing lady of 60 years who was bitten on her foot by a snake. I also examined a man with heart failure and heart valve disease for whom we can […]
Abel, this young man, was riding his bicycle when he veered off the road to avoid an oncoming truck. Abel’s bike struck a embankment, throwing him head first over the handle bars. The only fortunate outcome of this accident was that Abel landed on his leg rather than his head! I’m holding up the
“Quickly, Dr. Nicholas, come to emergency ward!” António’s voice was filled with tension, and by the arm he pulled we away from syphilis patient whom I was examining. Moments later I confronted a gasping small child, Gabriel. With each breath she chest retracted and with my stethoscope I heard hardly any air moving into
Over the weekend Ezekiel, in the photo above, was playing indoors and fell into the family cooking fire. As the boy screamed in agony the traditional healer smeared cow dung and herbs over the burns covering his face and chest. By the time Ezekiel arrived at our healthcare center his skin was heavily infected
One of the most disabling mishaps in developing nations is injury to the vagina during the process of giving birth. Here at the Lubango Evangelical Medical Center we have visiting surgeons who today alone provided repair surgery for 20 ladies who suffer from vaginal fistulas. Heroes, these surgeons are! Their bold acts of compassion
Salomao lives in a shantytown that surrounds the city of Lubango in Angola, southern Africa from where I’m writing at this moment. Salomao’s family is in crisis. His youngest child Elena, three-years old, started vomiting and passing bloody diarrhea. Her two older siblings began shivering from high fever. Salomao’s wife, disfigured and disabled from
Worldwide the number of urban poor is increasing steadily throughout Asia, Latin American. Emanuel lives in one such shantytown that surrounds the city of Lubango in Angola, southern Africa from where I’m writing at this moment. Emanuel’s family is in crisis. His youngest child Elena, three-years old, started vomiting and passing bloody diarrhea. Her
For two years I lived in Angola at the height of their civil war. I observed first hand exactly why the nations of conflict are also the nations of child death – death from hunger and disease far more often than from direct violence. How often do we glorify violence? Just observe the glee
In May INMED posed the question, “Are short-term medical missions (STMM) effective?” and also raised related issues of ethics and cultural relevance. Responses from you the readers were plentiful and absorbing. You said that we should recognize both the pros and cons of such service: Advantages for our mission hospital are: Coverage for
Each year some 5,000 healthcare teams depart the US to service in a developing country – usually for 7-10 days duration. A growing number of authorities are questioning the efficacy of this enormous outlay of time and resources, posing the questions like, “Do short-term medical missions actually contribute to improving the overall health of