In the small district hospital in the north of Tanzania, Dr. Kahindo Furaha works on behalf of UEM as the only specialist for gynecology and obstetrics far and wide. The hospital serves a large catchment area with more than one million people. Most patients come from small farming families. Expensive hospital treatment means a considerable financial burden for them.
Dr. Furaha's long working day is closely timed: morning meeting, operations, examinations, rounds. In between, there are always interruptions because unexpected complications arise during a birth. In addition, there are high-risk patients and emergencies that are referred from nearby hospitals. Every month, around 220 children see the light of day, a third by caesarean section. Dr. Furaha is present during all complicated births and operations. This means on-call service around the clock. This enormous commitment bears fruit. Within a short time, she has succeeded in reducing maternal mortality by two thirds.
For most people in the inaccessible rainforest areas of Western Congo, doctors and hospitals are hardly accessible. Small church health stations are often the only places to go for sick and injured people. Here, serious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, cholera or infections are treated with the simplest of means. Sister Bibiane Chiragane works in this region as a medical advisor to the church. The five-fold mother trains children, adolescents
and adults on topics such as hygiene, nutrition, family planning and HIV/AIDS. She attaches particular importance to educating and counseling girls and women, who often live in difficult circumstances. In order to inform people, she takes adventurous routes by motorcycle or boat.
Sister Bibiane is crisis-tested. In recent years, the equatorial region has been hit by Ebola and a measles epidemic. Since the spring, the health forces have been fighting against the spread of Covid-19, and Sister Bibiane is at the forefront of all crises. She explains to the people the vital rules of conduct to protect themselves from infection. Her workplace is in schools, health stations and churches. Sometimes also in the middle of the village square.
Dr. Taufik Nugroho runs a small church hospital on the island of Java. He reports:
"The Covid 19 pandemic poses a huge challenge to our healthcare system." He describes what has changed for him: "The most striking difference is the "distance" to patients. In addition to the necessary physical distance, there is also a distance of trust. The doctor-patient relationship is always based on mutual trust. In the pandemic it is based on a
put to a hard test. People are afraid of suffering social disadvantages if they are infected with Covid-19. Therefore, there is a general concern among the medical team that patients do not honestly report their symptoms or the route of infection.
The UEM communion ...
The aim is to provide as much care as possible throughout the country.
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