Saturday, January 18, 2014
GREETINGS
Its been quite a long time since I last posted on the blog... New Year with new additions. More creative posts and free stock photos...
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Pot full of death.
A
Tuesday afternoon on paediatric ward seemed rather more quiet and unusually
calm ( for those who know what a normal paediatric ward feels like). Done with
the discharges, I had settled down to flip a few pages of my clinical guide lines
when suddenly a 50year –like looking woman rushes in with a baby having
generalized oedema. The child was moaning with pain I could tell by every
single turn the mother was trying to attempt to reposition her. She explains
that she had been sent on ward without her hospital book as they were still
trying to process the necessities to try save the poor fellow’s life. 5minutes
later a sachet arrives and the book was showing clear indications to start
transfusing. We set up the transfusion and proceed to admit the child. 5mins
later, I was called t attend to a “ Last office”. The child was gone. Cold
dead.-- The pain of losing a life. That
is just one of the few common cases in a rural hospital like the one I work in.
Earlier
during first encounters, the mother explained that her child was diagnosed to
have a congenital heart problem. Which did not come as surprise to me
considering the age of the mother. But what rather bothers me most is the fact
that much as we knew the diagnosis of this child we could hardly do anything to
save her life. Performing a last office kept reminding me of the possibilities
that I was going to meet more of such a kind as I worked. Something people
think medical personnel are used to. What they forget is “Life is Life”. Any lose
will always hurt any normal human.
That we
cannot provide adequate health care to our patients because we lack the
facilities is rather an annoying thought. Why for example we do not have an ICU
in a hospital which receives at least 350 patients per day on average while
some potbelly sits in a lavish up town mansion stealing off the people’s
coffers. Basic organ function tests cannot be carried out because we “lack the
facilities to”??? Really? That money is
being channelled to militaristic tendencies and forgetting to have hospitals
well stocked with drugs and have equipment maintained or replaced is an
annoying thought. That a rural hospital with such a huge capacity has no
definite water supply while ministers are busy stealing billions on government
donations, grants and taxes. One does not need to be a rocket scientist to tell
that corruption especially in the health sector is nothing but outright murder;
NOT just of one person but of millions of innocent Ugandans. The hospital is no
longer a place of healing BUT has turned out to be a “pot full of death “. Even
when the highly under paid personnel tries their best in the meagre conditions
to save a few.
My
prayer is that they be put to justice someday. FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY
#Dr. Okra.
Monday, July 1, 2013
THE END OF TELECOMMUNICATION BOOM
20 years back, it was ultimate
luxury for anyone to own a 1kg thick brick like item called a mobile phone or
even just owning a phone in one’s office. Well, times have changed and even a
peasant in the middle of Kabong district can own one, not just to make calls with
it but do cash transactions as well. But what most phone users have forgotten
is how expensive their life has become with those little pocket size toys
dancing in their clothes or bags. No wonder airtime has become a basic necessity
in any homestead ( I don’t remember this being one of the basic necessities of
life - #primary school), costing a huge percentage of any average family budget
so to speak.
What they don’t realise is that
for every call they make, they are paying at least a good fraction of airtime charges
into the pockets of some already wealthy money hungry potbelly you have no idea
about. To many, 10shs is not bad for every 100shs you pay per minute. Besides
You don’t even see the money being taken from your pockets What they don’t realise
is 10shs from 10million subscribers is 10million shillings for the rich telecommunication
moguls in a sec. And yet some of them (companies) still have the audacity to steal
money from unsuspecting customers without their knowledge.
So the poor peasant in the middle of Kabong
struggles to get 500shs worth airtime and “pays
the telecom company money so as to talk to someone”. Stop and think again…
You are paying to talk to someone? Well, the notion may not come obvious to one
for now. A common African proverb says; “ you can deny one food at your home
but you cannot deny one word” Which literally means, it’s understandable that
food can be denied to someone because one has to toil to get it but you cannot
deny someone talk or information. And yet our telecommunication companies tend
to gutfully evade taxes even when they get billions in profits from charging
people to talk to each other. Not to speak of the undocumented theft of money
from the airtime of innocent genuine subscribers. http://investigator.co.ug/details.php?option=acat&a=224
That not being enough; they even charge people
money to exchange information (Internet). That I should pay a telecommunication
company money so as to be able to share my photos with a dear one outside
countries is a redicilous idea even yet. That I have to pay so as to share
information I have with someone over the net still sounds uncouth yet. One may
argue that telecommunications have simplified communication in general; true;
but on personal opinion I think it is time the lucrative business of cheating
and theft comes to an end. All it takes is for one bold government to stand up
for its people and offer free telecommunication services to its people so they
won’t have to pay to talk to each other or share information. What the people
would have to pay for would be the hardware (handset) to gain access to the
free service and their taxes sufficient to ensure smooth running of the
services like any other (health, education, security,etc) of course leaving
room for those who feel they have the money to afford private telecommunication
services. BOOM; telecommunication business comes to an end. "FREEDOM TO TALK, FREEDOM TO SHARE ".
# Dr. Okra (freelance thinker and writer )
Thursday, June 27, 2013
OPTION B+, GENUINE OR GUINEA
As you take the blood sample, neither the patient nor the attendant has an idea you are about to perform an illegal RCT on their blood in the name of new government policy and "trying to make their lives ART miserable forever" (without their consent moreover). " we shall keep these RCT results until the patient feels ready to have them". The health worker is taking procedures of highly sensitive psychosocial attributes without consideration whatsoever the impact of their actions. We cannot however blame the health worker because it is now a government policy to infringe on the rights of its citizens. http://www.ugandapicks.com/2013/02/hiv-testing-made-compulsory-79166.htmlMoreover it is the reason their is a huge delay in onset of work in the early morning at any OPD in any government hospital in Uganda. You cannot see the C/O or M/O unless your RCT results are out.
Interestingly option B plus is here. It's not an option as the name suggests. It is actually compulsory. That every child and its mother, pregnant and lactating mothers be tested for HIV and then referred accordingly to start having the bodies pumped with ARV's in the name of not just preventing but " Eliminating mother to child transmission (EMTCT)". http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=24206:new-project-to-curb-hiv-infections-among-infants&catid=34:news&Itemid=114
And all these has come up as a result of a medical miracle ( I suppose) of a baby girl from Mississippi who got cured of HIV after she contracted HIV from her mother and was detected to be HIV+ during labour(funny). Mississippi baby was put on ART and voilà, some time later she is proved to have no HIV.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/mississippi-baby-born-hiv-functionally-cured-doctors/story?id=18645410
Assuming the child had contracted HIV anyway and somehow the medical miracle happened. A good sign in a positive direction that HIV could be cured.
But in effect it was on these one miracle that the WHO and now Uganda has decided to start pumping pregnant and lactating mothers plus infants with ARV's in the name of EMTCT. What happened to evidence based medicine? What happened to research? What happened to to systematic ways of introducing new policies? Or is it the WHO now being funded to turn innocent mothers and children into guinea pigs to carry out their "possibility of more ARV cure miracles" with no consideration whatsoever to possible side effects of such adversely strong drugs. No research has come up to confirm "no side effects" on pregnancies and infants but we are proceeding ahead, blindfolded. With no research(es) to untie the blindfold.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/03/14/hiv-baby-cured-mississippi-child-exposed-infected-virus-dr-mark-siedner_n_2875074.html
We need therefore to proceed with caution. Health of people is not a mere toy play for the scientist to make new "eureka" discoveries. It should be treated with respect and dignity. It is not wise for new policies to come up based on just one mississippi baby miracle. And if B+ is really an option, treat it as such not a compulsory program. Put the money into more research in the field of HIV, pregnancy and ART.
(picture is copyright of http://www.keycorrespondents.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/515bd15d63d5c.jpg )
Friday, May 31, 2013
THIS ONE TIME
I always had this fear from the stories and few encounters
I’d had with this lady and this only made me feel I weakling at heart. So I
prepared 4 the ultimate challenge... Anyone would been able to go head on to
face the lion like monster of a question that Dr. Gertrude was going to give us
to discuss. I thought in my heart I wouldn’t be able to answer the question
given the time limit we had been given to discuss... I kept trying to shoot up
my hand to buy the little chance that would either make or break my image
academic wise... Why would a man keep daring to waste of his social airtime in
a mere second in the name of trying to make a name? I remembered Dr. Carson’s
book on taking risks... so why not any way I said to myself.
“Who is going to answer question
two?” the question rang out through the nervous airs of the class... a cold
chill ran down my spine... triggering adrenaline release that made every single
hair on my skin stand. I remembered the last time I had messed up a question I
knew how to answer and how the professor scalded me live with prickly words in
front of the students... the day I felt a loser...”Yes young man can you answer
that question” she called out to me.
Looking at the entire classes’ atmosphere, I was the only one with my hand up
ready to go head on fight with the monstrous question I thought I’d prepared
for.
So I got up removed my clinical
coat...only God could tell how squeamish I was feeling...with every drop of
adrenaline making my heart beat faster, my breath deeper, my head pounding, I
saw the question’s jaws gapping wide to swallow poor me, it roared like a wild
lion ready to tear my ribs apart. It was the first time I was discussing such a
monstrous question in front of the queen of academia. “God what did I do to
deserve this”...I thought to myself.
So I got my simple weapon to buy
time...chalk. But it only lasted a few seconds before I had to fold my fist to
drop punches on this lion. I dropped a few punches when suddenly I dropped me
one on the face...I had forgotten the name of the buffer... I got angry, wild
and charged like a wounded buffalo and headed straight for the neck and gave it
a deep bite that sent the lion staggering to the ground. I had given it its own
medicine. I saw the spectators beaming and I knew that even my enemies were now
surprised at how I had taken down the monster they all feared. So a few tried
to challenge my abilities with a few questions but deep in my heart I knew they
were just kicks of a dying horse... may be a lion for this case. I made it.
Everyone congratulated me for the job well done. It was just the beginning of
more encounters to come. May be it is good to take risks after all. Now I can
stand tall and be respected at least for this one time. Thanks be to God. And
the sleepless nights are indeed paying off.
Dr.
Okra
EMPTY VOID
Feeling normal and actually being
normal are two different things. So you are enjoying a nice after lunch break
and wondering how sweet life has been to you so far. Not many get to enjoy the
expensive lunch you just buy on a daily. Of course you feel the perfection of
self-actualisation, besides you are way much richer than a good number of your
own age mates. Complacency is what you may call it, but who cares. Young lad at your age, enjoying the brisk of
business success, probably having the best chain of buddies to hang around with and of course good shape to enjoy every force of
laughter to encounter. For a moment, life seems a perfectly fit puzzle.
And
then your thoughtful mind peers into a future… It’s dark and void. Your mind
grips a fear that sends chills down your spine, everything feels so dark. Oh so
you thought. A deem light of glistening eyes stare coldly into your direction…
for a second, you realise you are not alone. Even then, your conscience still
tells you,” You are not in the right company”.
Driven
by instinct you struggle to your numb feet, to run nowhere. As you run, you
feel every bit of you being left back where you came from. The dark is eating
you up… With every breath, every pump, every muscle, every thought, every sweat,
you try to fight your way but, alas, the monster has already griped you and is
swallowing every inch of your mind, heart and life… For a moment, you are dead.
Oh! My God, what is this?
The
rage builds up, the mind cracks up; you can hear every tap of your heart beat;
your breath sinks into a solemn silence full of bitter venom. You have become
what you were running away from. The void emptiness. It is then that you
actually realise, you’re not happy, you are not full, YOU ARE EMPTY. “What am I
looking for anyway?” you ask yourself. Unfortunately you cannot even perceive
what you actually desire… “Steve, let’s
go for the lecture”, calls out a subtle voice from a distance. Suddenly you
wake up from Dream Lake and it seems over for a moment, but you know it’ll be
back, someday…
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