First follow up hospital visits

Stood in front of our map of Uganda we have to admit that the first of our outward bound follow up trips looked pretty awesome. Right into the corner of south-west Uganda next to Mgahinga and just below Bwindi National Parks our end destination would be Kisoro. Our round trip would allow us to visit four of the course delegates working in a mixture of government, charity hospitals and smaller Health Stations. 

We were quite nervous as this would set the mood, for us at least, for what was to be the main stay of our work here. We were not disappointed. Some difficult phone conversations with broken English and cut off in connections hindered our progress at times, but we managed to arrange all the meetings. At one point both parties were convinced we were stood by the same tree in the hospital courtyard only to finally discover we were at different hospitals! Right town, wrong place – slick! We were met with joyful smiles and anaesthetic officers delighted to show us their working environment, discuss cases and the impact the course had had on their practice to date. Everyone emphasised the difference it made being followed up. To them it felt that it meant we cared about their work and provided them with “courage and encouragement” to put into practice some of the new found knowledge and skills. Don’t get us wrong, they work under some stringent, under-resourced conditions and are highly experienced and knowledgeable in their practice. However with little formal training or teaching some basic skills and pointers goes a long way in changing the outcomes of patients. Not sure what we would do faced with only intra-muscular drugs or at the most ether to go to work with! They were all very motivated and urgently wanted to improve upon their practice. 

The anaesthetist's kit

Almost all of them wanted to show us their working environment and it meant fairly lengthy follow up times whilst we were shown around the place. Most of the health centres do not have visitors from abroad so it was a real celebrity moment. It gave us such insight into the conditions and working practice of all the anaesthetic practitioners, an amazing opportunity. Looking forward to the next follow up trip. 

Operating theatre at Musevene Hospital

Having set off at 6am and having completed three hospital visits by 1900 we were pretty bushed. The road to Kisoro is not for the faint hearted and although streets ahead of its previous condition still in bad shape in parts. Magnificent views from every twisting road and after what seemed like a life time of climbing altitude we saw the massive Virunga mountain range in the distance and started heading down into the valley in which Kisoro sits.

We hadn’t booked ahead and we fell on our feet when we luckily found a room at the Golden Monkey in Kisoro. Having a day spare we decided to go trekking after these elusive creatures the following day. This wasn’t before stumbling across the best coffee house in Uganda to date. Cloud and rain the next day ruled out trekking and found us deposited in the ‘Coffee Pot’ for most of it. Several hot chocolates, a good rummage through their second hand book shelves and some pork stew later found us feeling a lot more rested.