Hospitals

Since arriving in Gondola, I have visited the hospital more than I have my whole life. Last week we visited the pastor of one of the zone Mennonite churches who was in the hospital for severe diarrhea. The hospital is the place one goes if he/she is sick, needs a malaria test, has any other ailment or to give birth. The hospital functions as one’s family doctor/primary care physician and the hospital in the American sense of medical establishments. When one is admitted to the hospital, it means that one is very sick. Being admitted also means bringing someone to look after the sick person, who fetches the nurse if the patient’s condition changes.

The Gondola Hospital appears to have three wings—a maternity wing, an infirmary and the general clinic. Patients admitted to the infirmary share a room with seven other people of the same gender. Each person has his/her own bed with a mosquito net. There are two doors, one on either side of the room and two windows for ventilation. The selected care taker of each patient, sits on the bed with the patient. The hospital feeds the patients and the few nurses administer medicines when needed, but the majority of the patient care seems to be with the family. The maternity ward admits women in labor but no one may accompany them. So husbands bring meals, talk with the nurses about the condition of their wives but are not present at birth; neither can sisters or mothers of the women in labor be present. After birth, people may visit the mother and baby during hospital visiting hours: 16:00 hours to 18:00 hours each day. Mothers are discharged a day after delivery.

In July, we took some friends who were in a bad bus accident to the Provincial Hospital in Chimoio. The “Emergency Room” personnel looked at all those who were wounded in the accident and treated those with the most blood. The remainder were given pain medication and told to come back on Monday morning to see a doctor (it was Saturday night at 9 PM).

In some of the rural areas, there are health posts with voluntary health workers. They are trained in knowing the symptoms of malaria and a few other sicknesses and given some medicine to disperse on an as needed basis.

There is a medical school in Beira. Students study text books from Portugal and some in English. The hospital in Chimoio trains nurses. I’m sure there are a few other medical schools in the country and nurses training schools but these are the ones of which I am aware.

written January 2, 2008