Chad - A Life and a Death |
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January 31st, 2007 - 10:13AM |
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Photo: Melissa Winkler/The IRC International Rescue Committee emergency communications coordinator Melissa Winkler was in Bahai, Chad, last week to document IRC programs assisting Sudanese refugees and displaced Chadians. January 27 - I spent the day yesterday with the IRC’s impressive health team, first in a refugee camp and later in a hospital. I arrived early in the morning with IRC doctor Ashis Brahma, who helps manage our medical programs at Oure Cassoni, and his close associate Tamam “Ben” Adjougoursala, a diligent Chadian pharmacist and lab technician. Ashis, from the Netherlands, helps keep 26,000 refugees healthy under challenging circumstances with the invaluable assistance of more than 125 Chadian and Sudanese refugee nurses, mid-wives and other health care workers. He’s also a source of laughter and hope for the seemingly unending flow of children and their mothers who line up each day for vaccinations, chest exams and treatment of malaria and other common diseases. Yesterday, Ashis skipped his morning rounds. He was urgently called into our women’s health clinic to examine a refugee named Fayga with a gigantic belly. She was experiencing significant pain and Ashis and the mid-wives learned that she was well overdue to give birth. The day was long and her labor was slow in coming. Ashis arranged to transfer her to Bahai Hospital, a Chadian facility some 25 kilometers away. Over the past few years, with aid from the UK government and the Dutch foundation Stichting Vluchteling, the IRC rehabilitated the hospital to meet the health needs of the local community and care for medical referrals from the refugee camp. Waiting to receive her at the hospital was the IRC’s Dr. Ponce Pie and senior mid-wife Melel Bekanyogoto. The two worked diligently to induce labor and offer comfort. But at 6am this morning, it was finally determined that she needed an emergency caesarean requiring another evacuation, this time to the more advanced Abeche Hospital in central Chad. Fortunately I was to be traveling to Abeche this morning on a small plane operated by AirServ, the absolutely vital relief group that provides air transport to the humanitarian community and evacuates medical emergencies. We were able to give Fayga my seat and AirServ got her to Abeche in time. She gave birth to a healthy baby boy. For me, this meant another day in Bahai—one more day to witness the extraordinary strength of the people who have settled in this harsh and isolated place and the tragedies that are a part of their daily lives. By day’s end, we were handed another emergency case—a two-year old Chadian boy with second degree burns all over his body. Sadly, his family didn’t understand the seriousness of his condition and waited several days before bringing him to the hospital. He was severely dehydrated, suffering from a blood infection and in shock by the time he came under our care. He died this evening. Our health team’s early elation over the successful birth of one little boy was tempered by their inability to save the life of another. They are crestfallen today, but will carry on tomorrow. Posted By: Melissa Winkler | Africa, Diaries & Journals, Health, Sudan & the Darfur Crisis, _Melissa Winkler in Chad Permalink |
