hospital.

hospitals in ghana. terrifying.

i was forced to go my first week, for mild nausea and inability to stand on my own two feet. it wasn't so bad, i thought, just a little chaotic, and rustic. however, my second experience proved much much more terrifying.

on monday we arrived at the orphanage at 8 am, and were asked to take 3 boys to the hospital. two had problems with their feet, and one was very sick. my roommate piled the three boys into an already crowded taxi, and trekked back across town to the hospital. we got dropped off on the main road, and then walked the rest of the way. the walk was painful, due to the extreme heat, the dust, the lack of water, and the foot injuries which caused the boys to limp in an exaggerated degree the entire way there.

we finally arrived, got the boys signed in, and sad on the bench in the open air waiting area. there were about 5 people waiting in line before us. as we waited, more and more people kept arriving, and cutting in line because their illness was deemed more severe than ours. we waited for over an hour to be seen, but they put "Cool Runnings" on the tv, so it wasn't so bad.

once we got into see the doctor, he quickly assessed the foot issues, and diagnosed them both with what they call "cellulitus" which is not equivalent to ours. it is an infection in the skin on the foot, and causes swelling and extreme pain. both boys were given a prescription for antibiotics. the third boy was sick, and needed a blood test to determine if it was malaria. the woman who handles lab work was the scariest woman i have ever encountered. she was huge and stern, and did not smile. ever. she took the boy, richmond, into the "lab" room, which was a small room behind a curtain, and sat him down. i went in too, because the boy is only about 7, and i thought he might be scared. he was. i was scared. the woman abruptly whipped out a needle, and prepped his vein with a scowl look across her face. richmond got scared when he saw the needle, and started to whimper. she gave him a horrible look of i told him not to look, and to look at me instead. she went to draw the blood, and he tried to stop her with his hand. this made her angry, and she yelled at him again. he cried more, and i told him again to look at me. he finally did, and i held his hand while she took the blood. it was absolutely awful.

as we waited for the results (another hot hour), the other two boys had to get a shot of to prevent infection. this was similar to the blood draw, only they took each boy to the back of a different room, and sat them in a chair, and told them not to cry. they actually said "you are pathetic if you cry. you are a bad bad boy. you are not strong, you are weak". how you do you sit through that, and not say anything. this was an extremely challenging experience; trying to understand the cultural differences, but being so frustrated that this is really how it is, here.

after 4 and a half hours, we got the two boys with "cellulitus" taken care of, and meds to take back to the orphanage, and the other boy was diagnosed with malaria, and most likely hep b. we were told he has to be tested an another hospital for hep b, because they can't test for that there.

overall, i am extremely frustrated by the health system here, and with the treatment of children. i just have to keep reminding myself that this is probably a vast improvement to what is was, years ago, and that there is always room for improvement.