Remembrance Day

Lest we Forget. Grandfather Robertson, and his brother served in the Second World War. They both survived so I guess you could say they were lucky, although I would not consider being in a war lucky. Niger does not officially celebrate Remembrance day, but I am.

This Hospital Erected in Memory of Stanley Edward Soule

Speaking of remembering, I found a memorial plaque as I was walking around the hospital early this morning. The history of the hospital here in Galmi is interesting. Preparation for the first building (a three room boy's house) began in 1949 (it is now a storage room) back when it was part of French South Africa. The locals would scare people off by telling them that the doctors cut off limbs and gouged out eyes and buried them under the hospital. They were the place of last resort for those who had already tried every other local cure, and often they were too close to death by the time they arrived. Having said that, they still did 5-7 surgeries daily and saw 3-400 outpatients a day. They had a 120 bed hospital that was run by 2 nurses along with local help. (Information courtesy of Galmi Hospital – a short history). Today I saw them finishing the foundation for a new generator building.

They have 2 generators that run on diesel when the power goes out, and two more have just been donated. It is interesting that they store their diesel in the room next door to the generators (I don't think that would be up to code in Canada).

Other interesting (actually sad) facts about Niger - Niger ranks second lowest in the world on the UN Human Development Index, which ranks countries based on life expectancy, education, and income. And - If you are a woman, you have a 1 in 14 chance of dying sometime in your lifetime due to pregnancy complications. Then there is the truly dire information: There is a infant mortality rate of 85 per 1000 in the first year, and a maternal mortality rate of 553 per 100,000. I can now attest to the fact that I don't see any exaggeration in those numbers.

OK, let's lighten the mood a bit. I did another hysterectomy today for another very large uterus, and again, there was no cancer (yeah!). There is a teaching program here, so I was teaching a resident how to do hysterectomies and he was very interested. Apparently he had done some at home in Kenya, and he had some troubles post op. He was asking me the tricks to avoid ever having post op complications, so I told him what I was told in training (the only way to avoid having surgical complications is to not do surgery). The surgery went well, and she is doing nicely in recovery. The resident was even impressed with the lack of blood loss, and was hoping to “learn my technique”.

I didn't get to see many people in clinic today because I was in the OR, but we still had one woman that came specifically to Galmi because she didn't trust the doctors at the other clinic and wanted a second opinion. I guess the reputation of the hospital has come a long way from the 1950's.

John 16:33

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”