Mission to Malawi: Day 12 Rural Clinic

Day 12 was spent running a rural clinic in a village south of Lilongwe. It was me, Dr.Ivey, Laci, Charles our driver, Steve the organizer, Lucky a clinical officer, and two translators Jolyn and Clifford. We saw over 200 patients, about half of them children. Many of the complaints were those you would see in your typical ED and outpatient clinic, with a bit of a third world twist. Many children here do not receive all of their vaccinations nor do they receive all of those an American child would have so there are many cases of Mumps and Chicken pox. We came with an arsenal of antibiotics, but many of the patients had complaints of bodyaches and dyspepsia. They use charcoal here to cook their food then run water through the coals to use for other cooking needs. This basically prepares lye and when ingested causes a lot of epigastric discomfort. They are also a hard working community where they are performing physical labor all day, so musculoskeletal complaints are common! Luckily they don't know anything about Norco lol! I tested several patients for malaria with our rapid malaria kits, it is the start of the season and may come up positive. The people here have had malaria several times in their lifetime so the disease is usually a mild course, with a short stint of quinine or LA (not in the US). It was amazing to be able to reach out to so many people who really need chronic care but do not have the means to get out of the village for care. You will not find any diabetics or CHF, or uncontrolled HTN patients here, as they do not survive!! These people are amazingly resilient!