Back in Ethiopia

Today I am already one week in BahirDar and two weeks from home. It has been very busy, traveling, few days Mota and the first week here. Also the internet connection is not optimal here. Today I have my bureau and good internet, so o excuses anymore.

After a long journey via Sudan I arrived in Addis , where I met DR Melesse, who is training orthopedics now. Tuesday morning early I flew to BD and next day by ambulance to Mota. It was very nice to meet everybody there, and the visit was very much appreciated . Saturday I returned to BD and on sunday I took over the duty from Dr Hans . On wednesday I got my own room, with table and bed. From the beginning it has been very busy. Hans had told me there were about 4-5 caesareans a week, I did the tenth one last night, not even one week finished!. And also some bad cases, the first maternal death in this clinic, due to sepsis. So that is what we call in Holland the “vuurdoop”  i.e. baptism in fire, kind of hard start. Hopefully this weekend will give me some rest.

The clinic is a small clinic, started last year. On the grounds of an existing healthcare centre a new building is going to be build. Now there are some improvised buildings. One big room with 10 beds, two beds in what was planned to be the ultrasound room.  Both delivering mothers, post delivery mothers and women admitted for complicated pregnancy are in this one room. Adherent the labour room with two beds. It is reasonably equipped and clean! Next to it a building has been refurbished to act as an OR.  There are about 100 deliveries a month, figures are rising. There is a staff of 8 midwives, one OR nurse, several cleaners. The anesthetists come from Felleger hospital, the big referral hospital in town.

Bahirdar is a nice place, agreeable, though much bigger than Mota. A real town actually, on the shore of the Tanalake. I have not had the chance yet to look around, but I know it from past journeys. Nice asphalted lanes along the lake. Palmtrees. There is more to do here , like many nice little restaurants. But I must say, I think I preferred Mota, the quiet and tranquility there. Our house, where I live together with Daphne, a dutch midwife, is a nice house. There is running water, (though the boiler is not working…)we have a oven, good electricity mostly, so more comfort then in Mota. What I miss is the view, this is a courtyard with a high wall. In the morning we can sit in the sun on the veranda.

Moving around in this city takes more time, bycicling is a good way of transport. To the clinic it is 5 minutes from our  house. There was a nice bycicle, bought by one of the former gynaecologists here, but that one has been stolen this week, in front of the hospital. To go from one place to the other you can  also use the badjaj- like the tuktuk in Thailand. For one birr (4 eurocent) you can travel quite a distance.

These are the first impressions of my 4^th stay in Ethiopia. I enjoy being here again! Later on I will write more and try to put some pictures in. Now I have to go to the clinic again.