Dr. Couture journal: Africa

Dr. Mark Couture

Returning from Galmi Misision Hospital in the land locked country of Niger just before the start of the holiday season is a deeply ambivalent experience. Knowing I have been so blessed to be living in the rich West compared to the deprivation and poverty of those living in countries like Niger engenders feelings of both guilt and sorrow.

The land, just at the southern reaches of the Sahara in years of good rains, produces enough food to sustain its hard working farmers and herders. But when the rains fail, the government stores of surplus food plus donations from countries like ours are all that stand in the way of famine.

A long, hot dry eight months is hopefully interrupted by a short, hot, humid four month rainy season. Storage bins looking like tiny church domes, most on stilts to keep out the rodents, adorn each little village. Camels, goats and donkeys, the water equivalent of our hybrid cars, are the engines of work and transportation.

The major road running through Galmi, a two lane, mostly paved, liberally potholed thoroughfare connecting the capital Niamey in the west with Zinder in the east, was a constant source of the most varied tragedies.

Crowded with people, donkey carts, small cheap Chinese motorcycles, ramshackle cars ? consisting of little more than a frame, bald tires, an accelerator and optional brakes ? piloted by the mandatory testosterone fueled young male (no experience necessary) and large trucks combined to create the ?perfect storm? for two objects/one space scenarios. In no particular order we treated scores of broken legs, arms, pelvises and severe head injuries, the latter beyond hope or prayer.

Every bit as tragic were the unending parade of ?self referrals? from the traditional bone setters, whose wooden slats tightened by intervening straps of cloth served to immobilize the extremity while efficiently cutting off its blood supply.

A young, otherwise healthy, young man came in with a swollen, numb and paralyzed leg. The only injury appeared to be a sprain ? no fracture, no lacerations. We rushed him to the operating room to open the skin and release the pressure, while also hopefully returning the blood supply to the tissue, but it was way too late. Everything below the knee was rotten.

I?ll never forget the look of horror, unbelief and anger when I told him he would lose his leg. He?ll never know the simple joy of running, jumping or even walking normally again. He left the hospital with his father to get who knows what, a second opinion? Several days went by now and I often think about what happened to him and if he simply decided he?d rather die than live life as a cripple.

Fortunately by no means is this the whole picture. The medical, pediatric, obstetrical and surgical services are manned by a dedicated, hard working group of missionaries who daily deliver life saving and changing treatment to hundreds of patients. Malnutrition is reversed, malaria and tuberculosis is cured, diabetes and hypertension are controlled, perforated bowels are patched and hernia holes are plugged. In addition, the most varied and fascinating array of truly weird and perplexing surgical conditions encountered are puzzled over and, more often than not, brought to a successful resolution ? even if sometimes we?re not sure just what it was we resolved!

And there is hope on the way! In July, the seventh Pan African Academy of Christian Surgical training program will enroll its first two residents under the direction of Drs. Joe Starke and Yakoubou Sanoussi, a Nigerien French trained surgeon. The many benefits include the upgrading of the surgical services, the influx of visiting faculty from the U.S. and Europe, an increase in funds generated and donated and the spinoff effect of improving the other hospital departments.

Construction is just about completed on the new surgical wing and duplexes housing up to 10 trainees and their families is well on its way. If all goes according to plan, Niger will have its second source of qualified general surgeons with our first graduates in five years.

As this wonderful holiday season comes to a close, I think there is a future for Galmi where there will be more to be thankful for, not just physically but spiritually as well. I personally want to express my gratitude to all of you who through your gifts of prayer, time and treasure support the medical missionaries in Africa. Keep the faith; you are making a difference.

Dr. Mark Couture participates in the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons program, helping train doctors in Africa. He shares his experiences in reports for The Gazette. You can learn more at www.paacs.net.

Source: http://www.gastongazette.com/articles/most-65441-food-countries.html

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