March medical camps
Severe dehydration and malnutrition.
A total of 800+ patients were seen in this camp, which started from the 13th of march to the 17th of march, and 26th-30th.
Four communities were visited for the first 5 day period, and they were Akugbene, Ogbeinama, Okwama and Okoloba, the last two are new communities that have joined our list of communities that receive regular visits for medical camps on a two weekly basis, though they have had vaccination camps in their communities when we had our vaccination campaigns last year.
These two new communities are unique in the sense that they are further from our first six communities, situated along the Forcados river smaller quieter rural and isololated.
Staying with the Pastor I had the opportunity to review his 2 yr old son who had presented with an injection abscess during our jan training camp, the result of a dirty needle from a local healer. The abcess which had been drained and though expensive he had procured the appropriate antibiotics and the boy was doing well. Many such abcesses can erode into the lower spine causing lower limb paralysis , septicaemia and death.
I left the next morning for the waterside where I took a canoe across, and then took a bike from this community through the jungle to Akugbene community where we had our first camp. Since the theft of our engines the logistics of travel is a major issue. A total of 166 patients were seen with a sizable number of eye patients who were triaged for the next eye camp. With the theft of the boat engines this camp will be held more centrally, though a rural outreach surgical camp is planned for later in the year.
Most of the patients seen were children ,treated for malaria, presenting with fever and convulsions. Quinine injections in combination with Fansidar have produced fantastic results, and thankfully resistance to these cheaper drugs is still low.
The next community was Ogbeinama, smaller than Akugbene where a surprising 116 pts were seen,a very good figure for this community with the usual malarias, respiratory infections ,wounds and lacerations cuts from farming injuries. Such injuries have been on the increase of late and are usually treated with local herbs and eventually end up as chronic ulcers.
We left for our first new community Okoloba the next day where 98 patients were seen. I was impressed with the mothers from this communty as most of the young mothers came with their immunization cards for themselves and their children.
Immunization is emphasised by us in each of our camps. Sadly in several communities you hardly see mothers who immunise their children let alone present with vaccination records.
We left by motor bikes,five of us with our drugs and bags for the next community ,Okwama .This is an Urhobo community diffrent from the ijaw community with an entirely diffrent language though they look would look alike to an outsider.
The camp was held in the Primary School where we saw a total of 129 patients.
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This is a very poor community with very obvious areas of stagnant water all around the thatch house, an ideal breeding ground for mosquitos and well accounting for the high incidence of malaria we treated.
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The second camp ran from the 26th -30th, covering Ekogbene, Ogriabene, Edegbene, and Enekorogha .Again without our engines we had to rely on a combination of chartered boats, canoes and motorbikes.
A man i treated in the first community for muscular pains,narrated his ordeal of how he has to row with his canoe for 8 hrs to the next major town at least twice a month,because of very high transport fares
i felt like a man on a lost island as we waited for our driver to take us to the next community. These are isolated , rural communities with no basic infrastructure and boats that ply this region maybe once a week.
As usual we applied our triage technique to save the women and children from the men and so called 'community personalities'
A total of 189 persons were seen here,74 were children,91 were women and 24 were adult males
Almost every child was treated for malaria as their fever, abdominal pain and anaemia were enough to make a diagnosis,a lot of pregnant women were seen in this community,most of them anaemic but with no immunisation against tetanus toxoid,going to the nearest health centre will be suicidal as the cost of transportation was enough to feed the family for the next 2 weeks
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Antenatal clinic
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Infant malaria
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Our next port of call was Edegbene were 54 pts were seen 23 were children,25 were women and 6 were men,Apart from malaria all sorts of cases were seen which you would see in the pics,this is a much smaller community and more impoverished as the community could not provide a place for us for the night,we left these community for Enekorogha that evening in the middle of the rains,you can see the dark clouds in the pic as the rain prepare to come down.
 We arrived enekorogha late that evening and reported straight to the community executives who did the usual welcoming rituials and finally provided accommodation for us.
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accommodation for the night
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Fulminant chickenpox
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We started work the next morning and a total of 107 pts were seen in these community,38 were children,47 were women and 22 very eager men,we saw all sorts of cases from malaria to malnutrition to hypertension in the elderly and the very common arthritis which we did not miss in all of the villages visited,
Our outreach was also spiritual as people gave their lives to Christ in all the communities visited,a case in point was a young man with suspected liver disease and several others, as each camp ended with a time of worship, giving thanks to the Lord who sustains our efforts and gives purpose to our work.
As is evident in this journal it is the logistics of travel in this region that makes delivering health care so difficult. We do not even scratch the surface of the thousands of isolated communities that make up this region, but we do what we are able.
With over 800 patients treated we look forward to next months vaccination camps
Dr Lawrence Oghumu
med superintendent
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