I arrived in Bangladesh the day the rains finished. Waterlogged fields made the final approach to the airport look like we were touching down on a swamp. The temperature was warm, the air humid but bearable. Airports are thankfully the same the world over.
Day two found me on a domestic flight north to the mission hospital at Parbatipur. The hospital is recent compared with the public health scheme founded by the same mission nearly thirty years ago, but its main emphasis is still prevention and community health. The staff are a mixture of nationals and expatriates. Recently the directorship and the medical team leadership positions were allocated to Bangladeshis. All made me feel very welcome.
Before I came I had tried to define what I wanted to achieve:
1. To make a contribution to the hospital, whether by helping in clinics, analysing statistics or building latrines.
2. To undertake a project acceptable for my degree.
3. To understand what it meant to be a medical missionary.
4. To get an insight into the Bangladeshi culture.
I deliberately decided against using my time to gain clinical experience or to learn about medical problems peculiar to Bangladesh. I managed all my ambitions, and also assisted a little on ward rounds.
My project involved assessing the mortality figures for the hospital. The importance of primary prevention was nowhere more clear than in those pathetic figures and tragic case notes. Infants dying from infections almost unheard of in the UK, mothers presenting with advanced pre-eclampsia, widespread TB, and malnutrition. At the root of 101 diseases is poverty in all its cruel aspects.
I changed my whole life's plans in two months. Surgery, my original ambition, would have saved just four of the 214 lives lost in two years. Based on my research I discovered that public health was the most needed specialty in situations like this. It was a lesson I wasn't expecting.
I would rate my elective as one of the most incredible and constructive periods of my life. It was certainly stressful at times, but the value of experience in the developing world cannot be over-emphasised.
God has plans for each of us. For many they won't involve the developing world, but don't let the prospect that some aspects might be hard put you off. The benefits vastly outweigh the costs.
Day two found me on a domestic flight north to the mission hospital at Parbatipur. The hospital is recent compared with the public health scheme founded by the same mission nearly thirty years ago, but its main emphasis is still prevention and community health. The staff are a mixture of nationals and expatriates. Recently the directorship and the medical team leadership positions were allocated to Bangladeshis. All made me feel very welcome.
Before I came I had tried to define what I wanted to achieve:
1. To make a contribution to the hospital, whether by helping in clinics, analysing statistics or building latrines.
2. To undertake a project acceptable for my degree.
3. To understand what it meant to be a medical missionary.
4. To get an insight into the Bangladeshi culture.
I deliberately decided against using my time to gain clinical experience or to learn about medical problems peculiar to Bangladesh. I managed all my ambitions, and also assisted a little on ward rounds.
My project involved assessing the mortality figures for the hospital. The importance of primary prevention was nowhere more clear than in those pathetic figures and tragic case notes. Infants dying from infections almost unheard of in the UK, mothers presenting with advanced pre-eclampsia, widespread TB, and malnutrition. At the root of 101 diseases is poverty in all its cruel aspects.
I changed my whole life's plans in two months. Surgery, my original ambition, would have saved just four of the 214 lives lost in two years. Based on my research I discovered that public health was the most needed specialty in situations like this. It was a lesson I wasn't expecting.
I would rate my elective as one of the most incredible and constructive periods of my life. It was certainly stressful at times, but the value of experience in the developing world cannot be over-emphasised.
God has plans for each of us. For many they won't involve the developing world, but don't let the prospect that some aspects might be hard put you off. The benefits vastly outweigh the costs.
