Wednesday, 9 April 2008

Caring for the dying - and the should-not-be-dying

Update on the two men admitted on Monday. We were able to get one of them - Mr. 'Nandi' - admitted at the main government hospital at Sion - and after much advocacy he was posted for emergency surgery to drain the pus from his knee at 4 AM this morning.

Whether Mr. Nandi will survive we do not know.

The other man - Mr. Mark is still with us and very sick. He has not passed urine for a day and is very weak. We are waiting for some test results before starting on treatment - but it doesn't look good.

The fact is that both these men were admitted at government hospitals - where they should have been getting treatment for their infections. Mr. Nandi for his infected leg - Mr. Mark for what looks very much like Tuberculosis. Both were discharged after spending many days and getting minimal treatment - mainly because they are HIV positive.

Today we are ministering to the dying - when they shouldn't be. It is one thing to try everything and still have the person slip away. It is quite another to have been in a place where treatment should have happened, but be sent away with anti-retroviral therapy as if that will magically solve all the problems the person is going through.

No comments:

Post a Comment