1. A 14 year old lass came in to see me. Her father died some time previously. Last year both she and her mother contracted Tb. Unfortunately she didn't complete her treatment. Why? Her mother died - and one day before she died they found that she also had a cancer. This poor lass had now had 3 weeks of fever with a cough, possibly a recurrence of her incompletely treated Tb.
2. A mother came in and after complaining of various aches and pains she placed on the desk a pile of papers concerning her 15 year old daughter who had just been discharged from a big hospital. I looked through pages of notes and investigations to find that her daughter's bone marrow had packed up and she wasn't producing anything like enough blood cells - that's red blood cells, or white blood cells that fight infection. I was shocked to find a hamoglobin of 1.2 during her hospital stay. I didn't think that was compatible with life! She had had several transfusions and was now home. I don't imagine her prognosis is very good!
3. We were just about to leave when one of the CHV's came in asking if I could see her 21 year old daughter who had been diagnosed with diabetes about 1 year ago. Just before the diagnosis was made she had been married. When her husband's family heard about the diagnosis she was returned to her family and divorced. So this poor lass was not only having to come to terms with her diagnosis but was also rejected as unsuitable for her husband. How do you deal with that? How can people be so cruel? I cannot get my head around a culture that treats young women like a business commodity!
Never make the mistake of thinking that the poor are content with their lot. It can be easy to imagine that. Real tears were shed by many parties this morning!
On a brighter note, I always love this sight:
It means that inside that door something interesting is happening with the kids! On Monday at my last visit to Seelumpur I met a team of students from a Catholic theology college. They were telling me that as part of the training they wanted their students to gain experience of service. They had offered to provide English teaching for the children of Seelumpur. So this is what was through that door:
When we got back to the office I had a quick look inside one of the new mobile clinic buses which I gather are now ready to go and hopefully will be out and about next week.
Inside there is a waiting area for 5 patients at a time with a desk for registration, another for BP's etc to be done and a consulting area at the back.
Here's the consulting area:
At the end of a hard day it was good to be able to chat with these guys - the staff in the Asha office. They are very serious about what they do but are happy to have a good laugh together at the end of the day when they had been turfed out of the office so it could be cleaned:
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