Frustrations in the outpatient clinic...

What to write?
Well, not much today.
It’s 9pm on a Monday evening.
The day was long.
Some cases were frustrating.
I am tired.

At 8am this morning there were 80 children at the gate.
Waiting.
Unfortunately we had to turn 20 of them away.
The waiting room just can’t really hold more than 60.
And it would be overwhelming for the lab.
And even with 60, the last child didn’t go home until 6pm.

What to say to the parents who are turned away?
Each one says “please see my child, he/she is sick”.
I tell them “all of them are sick, it’s not just your child”.
I tell them “I can’t treat all of the children in Freetown”.
I tell them “I am sorry” and tell them what their options are.
But what does any of this mean to the mother holding her sick child on the other side of the gate?

We do what we can; today, we did it for the 60.
By the end of the day I was somewhat frustrated.
Why do some parents here seem to know so little about so much?
They load up their kids on meds, they barely feed them, they wait too long to see a doctor.
I realize again that “lack of knowledge” and sometimes “ignorance” is the root of many problems.
If only parents knew more, surely more childhood deaths would be prevented!

To be continued...