A NURSE at the James Paget Hospital has returned from a three-month stint at a hospital in Zambia where she overcame such hurdles as power cuts and limited equipment to care for children with HIV.
Lisa King, 24, a staff nurse on the paediatric ward, said conditions at the Salvation Army-run Chikankata Mission Hospital could not be more different to a modern NHS hospital.
She said: “To start with, the hospital is in a very remote rural area 31km from the nearest tar road.
“While we would hardly notice a power cut at the JPH with electricity quickly switching over to the generator, the power is on and off all the time over there, sometimes meaning complete darkness in the hospital.”
Lisa, who trained at the JPH and has spent four years at the Trust, said that while deaths on the children’s ward in Gorleston were rare, they were sadly daily occurrences in Zambia.
“A large proportion of children have HIV and tend to come into hospital in the late stages of Aids. A lot are suffering from malnutrition and then there is malaria and TB as well,” she said.
“Here, we are very aware of sickness, but in Zambia mothers tend to bring their children into hospital very late when they are already very sick.”
Lisa, who lives with family in Wrentham, Suffolk, said Zambian nurses were generally good but they had to cope with limited equipment – while there were X-ray and ultrasound machines there were no ventilators or IV infusion pumps.
She added that in Chikankata there was only one trained nurse per shift, caring for 35 children.
Lisa, who had to come to terms with widespread cockroaches despite constant cleaning and a diet largely of ground maize, was given three months unpaid leave for the trip arranged by the Salvation Army.
She said: “I really enjoyed my time away and I have learned a lot about the care of children with different types of tropical illness and disease, as well as providing emergency daily care, which I hope will benefit my work back here at the JPH.”
[greatyarmouthmercury.co.uk]
May God bless you Lisa for doing such good job. I guess it hurts seeing children dying something which avoidable.
And we hear mor.ons saying Zambia is developing with the three E’s . Chikankata hospital has been there for long time but still with no proper equipment. Politicians only visit such institutions in election times. Lets keep praying…
what lisa is talking about is nothing but rhetoric for her to be heard. who doesnt know that the commonest dieseases that affect us here is malnutrition, malaria, hiv/aids brought by lisa’s scientists to control our population growth. lisa should talk about the tramps in UK and the old who cant be looked after by their children but are instead dumped in nursing homes to die. lisa should also tell us about the diseases patterns in UK the cancers, heart diseases WEAK BONES bcos of GMO AND AUTISM. lisa should talk about same sex marriages, binge drinking, gun culture, hate for muslims and all the and anti social vices we see daily in london. It is london which is dented and needs seriuos redress. yes our hunger even in UK pipo go without eating, so many homeless no wonder the UB40
3 u need prayers to appreciate the perspective of problems in zambia and the uk. Lisa has started her part while u blog meaninglessly….
lisa we have our own problems as a country and you have your own but you will agree yours are more seriuos that ours. we are a peaceful nation unlike your country which is riddled with so many ailments you fail to handle. Im sure given chance you would rather come eat our healthy natural and taste foods than the chicken and eggs which grow in one day. all your foods are formulated and modified
# 4justice I have only stated then the truth dont be blinded by the cheese and burgers you are enjoying in canada which you have come to know in your late stage of life. those pipo have issues to handle thats why they are even scared of own shadows. one day some lunatic workmate will arrive at your workplace and blow your heads off
# 3 and # 6 kalinosky petr. You are right. Tell them more. An HIV positive person is much much better than cancer stricken person. In Europe you have a lot of street beggars. In UK they have introduced a magazine to be sold by the poor on the street but still it does not answer the problem. People die every day through clime in UK which this simple lady could not mention. Everyday you read news on the internet issues of murder do not miss in UK. UK has also stoped being a safe place. In fact its much safer in Chikankata than in UK. What a nonsense of Muzungu.
#s 3 and 5 you are worse than vermin. You are twisting a real story and trying to sweep the truth under the carpet. The fact is that what she has described is the truth about many a Zambian hospital, where I have worked for some time now. You would do well to stick the rubbish that you are ranting about up somewhere. So what if they have those social problems in the UK, will it help us if we hide the rats and cockroaches that fill our wards in some hospitals? She is simply pointing out the filth that you find on a daily basis in the Zambian health system. So please don’t condemn her, put the blame on politicians who rush to S Africa even when they are just sneezing or they have contracted Akaswende. With people like you to defend them these guys won’t see the need to improve the…
Zambia is a poor country – is it really realistic to compare it to one of the richest countries on earth that has engaged in slavery, genocide and colonialism to get the wealth that in now enjoys? As regards cockroaches in the hospital, what about the super-bugs that are immune from anti-biotics that people have been contracting after spending some time in the dirty hospitals in the UK? The UK has one of the highest rates of teenage pregancies, obesity and heart disease as well as one of the lowest cancer survival rates in Europe. If this is the reality of health-care in the 6th largest economy in the world, what then do you expect for Zambia? Not even Sata would bring about improvement in the health sector in Zambia in 90 days.
Whose responsibility is Chikankata Hospital? Is it Salvation Army or GRZ? If it is Salvation Army, it should not be a problem to buy and install a stand by generator. As for late presentation to hospital, the nurse forgets that Zambia does not have a general practice system. Hospitals are everything from primary to tertiary care. Having said that, it is sad that we publish what foreigners say about our pathetic health care system, but will not listen when the very people who have worked and are working as well as using these facilities complain.
@3 – why did you leave Zambia? Why are you overseas where lunatics ” can arrive at your workplace and blow off your head”? Eish, sometimes it is better to just keep quiet.
I work at chikankata myself.And i do remember that gal Lisa.What surprise me is that a number of her colligues have praised the kind of life style and actually admired to leave in such a place as chikankata.They have been saying the natural enviroment around is quiet refreshing.we have the green forests around and sometimes visit some gorgeous mountains resting under a natural shade in a sunny day.They have also praised the friendliness of the local people who despite being poor,will always show a smiling face and are rarely affected by depression unlike in some of these so called developed countries.