Murgwanza Hospital

The hospital where I will be spending six weeks is very different from an Australian hospital. The head of the hospital is only a 2nd or 3rd year out doctor and all of the other 'doctors' in the hospital are actually assistant medical officers who receive 3-5 years of training and then perform surgery!!! The patients are required to pay for everything, including the gloves, needles and syringes and families must supply the food.

So far we have spent most of our time in the childrens' ward, where they have a total of about 40 beds, including a malnitrition unit. The 'ICU' is only distinguised from the wards by the fact that it is only a 4 bed room and it has an oxygen concentrator (no oxygen cylinders are available over here). Most of the children we have seen have malaria and many of them have needed blood transfusions.