Every Friday, my class takes a field trip to Mt. Meru
Regional Hospital in order to get our hands on some REAL medical equipment! Our
first day was supposed to be pretty relaxed, ya know, get our hands dirty!
[HEY! THAT’S THE TITLE OF THIS POST!!!!!!! It is indeed! Gold star for you!]
So of course, me and
two other colleagues dove right in. Ray, Daria, and I were able to put a
surgical lamp back into working order. It looked really intimidating at first,
but it wasn’t a difficult fix! Without getting too technical, we agreed that
replacing the battery and fixing the melted wires would’ve been improbable, and
perhaps impossible. Instead, we made a glorified wall lamp: input à switch à transformer à output. Other
colleagues were also able to put 2 wheelchairs, an oxygen concentrator, and a
hospital bed back in business today. How awesome.
From what I’ve gathered, there’s a type of hierarchy of
hospitals. There are dispensaries, clinics, regional, and national hospitals. Mt.
Meru is considered a pretty good regional hospital. However, we wouldn’t have
known, seeing as we worked outside in the dirt, the office we worked from was dirty
and disorganized, and some of my colleagues found dead and alive rodents in
broken equipment.
In addition, we are experiencing Tanzania during a rough
time for health care. There are typically either public or private hospitals.
The private hospitals offer better care, but at a higher price that many can’t
afford. The Tanzanian government funds public hospitals, including its doctors
and employees. Rights for public doctors are severely lacking, and many public
doctors, especially in Dar Es Salaam, are on strike. They’ve been promised a
great deal, and seen little change.
Keep these doctors, and their patients who are not receiving
care, in your prayers. This experience has made me even more appreciative for
the availability of healthcare in our country.
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| Dead bug in plug! |
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| Initial Insanity. |
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| Ray, Daria, and I after our first successful test. |
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