The Hospital in Qwa Qwa

After lunch, we went to the hospital in Qwa Qwa.  Jenn says this is a better hospital than the one in Harrismith.  She says that 80 % of the people who enter the Harrismith hospital, die.  Thrive won’t take anyone to Harrismith.  She told us that after we visited the hospital in Qwa Qwa.  It was very sparse.  The one elevator wasn’t working very well.  We finally walked up the 3 flights of stairs.  Then the men went to the men’s ward and the women to the women’s.  There were 3 wards for the men, each one had 12 beds.  6 were on either wall with the feet facing towards the center.  There were no privacy curtains, there was oxygen at each bed, and that was it.  The beds did move up and down with hand cranks. There were 21 men in the hospital.  Seemed like a small number for a town of 1.8 million. 

We went from bed to bed and talked with the men.  What surprised me was that most of the men had no idea what was wrong with them.  One was there because he was depressed and wanted to die.  Another had stomach problems, another wasn’t eating.  They knew what was bothering them, but they weren’t given a diagnosis or treatment regimen.  Everyone wanted us to pray for them, and we were happy to do that. 

 When we finished visiting the men, we went to the children’s ward.  Again, no real care given by the staff.  There were babies who were not eating, and other children who had broken bones.  No toys and very little interaction between the staff and patients.  One boy had been dropped off by his mom 6 days earlier, and they hadn’t been back to check on him.  Marty had to get a nurse to come change a little girl who was soaked in urine so she could get her out of bed to hold her and play with her. 

What an eye opening experience this was.  People complain about the health care system in the USA.  We have the best the world has to offer.  Where do people come from around the world for medical care?  They come to the USA.  Seeing the medical system in South Africa makes me thankful for the health care system that we have in America.