More stories

Two of the hardest things for me to accept here are the sanitation standards and the lack of confidentiality. While they do try to pay attention to sanitation here, sometimes things really make me cringe. For example, the examination beds are covered in cloth sheets and not the paper that we are used to. Not only do they not get changed after every patient, they are not changed daily. I remember the same sheet being on the bed here in the doctors room not being changed for about 10 days. I said something to him about it and it got changed the next day and washed. That was the week that the lady cut her finger, an old man had to have his catheter changed and various kids with infectious coughs were seen on that bed. EWW ICK!! Not to mention to amount of newborns brought in that get laid on that bed. There is a cleaner here who actually does work hard, and the floors are washed twice daily and the instruments are cleaned or thrown out. Needles are properly disposed of and they do have a sterilization machine. So that makes me feel better.



Lack of common sense story- this would happen in Canada too, but still made me laugh. This girl comes in with stomach pain and feeling nauseous and all that. She is clearly pregnant (about 4 months). The doctor opens a new file for pregnancy with her and as he starts asking her all the usual pregnancy questions, she gets really upset and says that she isn't pregnant and how dare he say that as she is not married and is a virgin! Um....yeah. So he made her take a pregnancy test to confirm the obvious and she freaked out! She said that they were lying and making all of it up to shame her and her family! I was there when this was happening and although I didn't understand all of what she was saying, I did catch the gist of it and the rest was explained to me. She insisted she wasn't pregnant and wanted the doctor to give her penicillin and drugs for her "infection" that was making her sick. When he refused, she freaked out again, crying and screaming. Some men finally had to remove her from the clinic. Well about a month ago, Max the doctor told me that she is seeking legal advice because she wants to sue the clinic for defamation of character. Oh Lord how we laughed. Common sense... if you don't want to get preggers and ruin your reputation and chance at marriage, DON'T HAVE SEX!!



This one is the best though, and my favorite!! A girl came in to get her Depo Provera birth control shot which is good for 3 months. The shot costs about a dollar and the patient has the choice of taking the syringe home and doing it herself or have the nurse do it for her here at the clinic, but you should wait till the first day of your period before taking it. She gets her syringe and leaves and comes back two days later for another shot. She gave the last one to her DOG!!! so she wouldn't get pregnant and so she didn't have to keep her inside. There are no words!!!
More to come.