Mirzapur

Mirzapur is the name of the village I traveled to today with the hospital’s mobile clinic. Every Thursday one of the doctors, a nurse, and a public health worker set up a clinic in a village about an hour outside of Herbertpur. Mirzapur is a mostly Muslim village, and there were a lot of interesting sights to see! Although apparently, we were the most interesting sight there, since the female physician from Switzerland (her name is Goli) and I drew stares from everybody that we passed! The kids would follow us down the street and whisper to each other. It was very amusing.

The clinic itself is in a 10-foot by 10-foot cement room along the side of the road; it’s locked up during the week and we store a desk, chairs, and medications inside for the weekly clinic on Thursday. All the patient’s charts from that village are also stored inside. In theory, the mobile clinic is wonderful, and they do manage to accomplish a lot with limited resources. But I realized today that patient after patient comes in with the same complaints- fever, body aches, back pain, fever, neck pain, fever, cough, etc. We didn’t have a thermometer with us, and no one actually measures their temperature, so these vague complaints are difficult to treat! And we can’t draw labs or get x-rays, so physical exam and history becomes very important. Also, I have noticed that almost every person we see is taking Amitryptiline, a drug that is rarely used in the United States in elderly individuals because of the associated side effects. When I asked the junior doctor why, he said that people complain of “uneasiness”; basically their description for anxiety, depression, and inability to sleep- and this is the medication always given. I was uneasy about prescribing it.

The craziest thing I saw today- a man came in complaining of back pain (go figure). But I noticed that his foot was covered in bandages, and these bandages were soaked through with yellow-redish fluid. Although the man insisted he was only concerned about his back pain, Goli and I insisted that we unwrap his foot (I think it would have gone ignored if we hadn’t been so forceful about it). As we lifted up the wrappings, I was shocked to see that all of the skin and subcutaneous tissue from the entire top of his foot was missing! I could see down to tendons and bones in an area extending from his toes to his ankle! It was crazy. We tried to describe the urgent need for treatment in a hospital and the dangerousness that is associated with walking around on this sort of thing. We referred him to our hospital, so I really hope he goes!

One of the things I will just not get tired of seeing here is all of the monkeys! They are everywhere and they are adorable (although they can be vicious and I usually try to keep my distance!). Along the road today there were hundreds just perching on rocks and branches, and little baby monkeys too! I loved it.

Prayer Requests:
- The hospital is very short on residents right now. Due to a variety of circumstances, they have lost 3 in the past two weeks, leaving only 2 left. This is a huge job for two residents! Please pray for guidance as the medical director and family medicine program director make decisions about leadership and recruitment. And pray also that God will provide more Christian physicians to work here.

Praises:
- The husband and wife from Switzerland think they have found a translator to help them in the hospital! This would make us much more useful in the casualty unit and outpatient departments, if we could see patients on our own without tying up someone else in translating for us.
- Thank you for all of your prayers and support!