We’re back in Addis! And suddenly everything here looks a lot more modernized and developed than it did when we first arrived. Even our hotel rooms suddenly seem much nicer. I guess perception is relative to what it’s compared to, right?
Yesterday we returned to the University of Gondar Hospital and met with some other clinicians including the Dean of the School of Medicine (who is an obstetrician), the Head of the School of Internal Medicine, and a couple OB/GYNs. We asked them many questions about the needs we have identified and received very helpful feedback. After the hospital, we met with members of the District Ministry of Health who sent an assistant with us to visit a health post. I was very surprised at how nice and yet how limited the health post was. As strange and contradictory as that sounds, it’s true. This was one of the nicer health posts in Ethiopia. It was a 3 room facility right off the side of a busy road and was built with both wiring and plumbing. Most health centers can’t even be accessed during the rainy season because the roads are too muddy and they have no water or power capabilities because they are made of trees and mud. This one even had a water heater and a sink! But there was just one problem; it was not connected to any electric or water sources, so many of the features were unusable. And just the lack of those two sources alone means no heating, no refrigeration, and no sterilization capabilities. Sine vaccines that must be kept between 2-8 degrees Celsius, they frequently have to be obtained from the nearest health center because they can’t keep them cool enough. And of these health centers (which are about 10 km away, up to 25 in rural areas), only about 3 out of 7 in the North Gondar District have electricity themselves. Health posts would likely be able to do far more for patients if they could use sterile gauze or tools, refrigerate drugs and vaccines, and warm patients or neonatal, but currently this is not possible. In general, health posts test or provide treatment for malaria, HIV, malnutrition, birth, intestinal parasites, contraceptives, and vaccinations. They are also used to provide health information to the people for family planning, sickness prevention, and pre/post maternal delivery. When they encounter cases that require expertise outside these parameters, they refer the patients to the Health Centers which, as previously mentioned, can be a long distance. It was very eye opening to see the limitations the workers here face. There is a lot of room for innovative solutions to allow the health extension workers to provide better care.
After the health post, we briefly visited a castel in the center of Gondar and I couldn’t believe how HUGE the place was! It is actually the ruins of six castles that were built in one area that date back to about 400 years ago. These castles belonged to Ethiopia’s royal family when Gondar was the capital of Ethiopia. Most of them are ruins now and tourists can walk around and inside them to get a feel for what they must have been like. It was really interesting!
Then today, we made the 12 hour trip back to Addis and are back in our same hotel again. Tomorrow and the next day, we are going to the Black Lion University Hospital which is viewed as the hospital with the newest equipment and greatest care capabilities.
This is the health post we visited:
Here we are at the castle of Gondar:
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