Melissa Starts Work

The next day presented new challenges still.  Our culture shock has died down as we are becoming acclimated to the environment, but Melissa’s first day at the hospital was sure to be eye-opening.  The hotel arranged transportation for her, and I accompanied her the first day to make sure all was well and see the hospital for myself.

The hospital is right near the airport, so the driving route has become familiar now.  Geographically it's not far, but with all the traffic and pedestrians in the crowded streets, it takes 30-45 minutes.  To make it even tougher, it has started to rain.  I suppose that's good news for the millions of Nepalis who want to have a rice crop so they can eat, but it sure makes transportation inconvenient for the tourists!  The rain made for fewer people on the street, but not by much.  Since there isn't really a sewage system or storm drain system to speak of, it made the roads flooded and messy.  Those piles of garbage everywhere are now being washed everywhere, and when we crossed the river, it was clear where that garbage all ends up.  Very sad!

The hospital is a building of perhaps 6 stories, and it is roughly U-shaped.  The center area on the ground floor is outside, and that serves as the receiving area and waiting area for emergency.   This area was full of people, but not any more so than one might see at Strong.  We weren't sure if we would see lines of destitute people or what it would be like.  Melissa had heard that at some hospitals, pregnant women come from rural areas and camp outside the hospital waiting to deliver.  There was nothing like that--it was busy, but not out of the ordinary.

  We walked in and just looked around, since Melissa had not been told where to go.  We asked a security guard for the obstetrics area, and he pointed us to the stairs.  We located the third floor obstetrics ward, which to my surprise looked nearly empty.  We were led from one person to another, all looking for the doctor we were to meet.  Considering how small the hospital was, she took a long time to locate, but when we found her, we were put at ease.  She greeted Melissa warmly and talked about how happy they were to have her.  We were led around to meet some of the other faculty members, and then went to the administration offices to do paperwork.  Dr. Karki led us the office of the director of the hospital, who sat with us and talked about the differences between how medicine is practiced in Nepal.  (All the doctors, by the way, speak excellent English, as they all attained their medical degrees abroad in India, the US, Pakistan, and other places.)  The director said that in the US they rely a lot on biochemistry and lab results, whereas in Nepal there are no labs to get results from.  Consequently, the practice of medicine is much more clinical in nature, and Melissa will get good experience diagnosing problems with less support from labs.  

We were only at the hospital an hour or two.  I sat in the reading room and did Sudoku--I stayed because we were in an unfamiliar neighborhood and we do not have cell phones here.  Soon enough, Melissa was done, and she starts for real today.  Already she learned things she was surprised about.  She said that some procedures that are very standard in America are unusual here, and other things she expected not to find are very typical here.  For example, their rate of c-sections is as high or higher than at Strong.

I'm sure after she goes to work today and the next few days she'll have plenty of interesting things to report.

After the hospital yesterday we made some purchases at various shops, including a large North Face backpack for camping that I got for only $45.  Everything here is very cheap, though it doesn't feel like it because the denomination of currency for most things is in the hundreds and thousands.  1000 rupees is something like $15 bucks.  I did find one item I really wanted to purchase but didn't--it was a framed cloth map of India, Nepal, and Tibet, dating back to the colonial era.  I thought, "awesome, what a find, I bet this is so cheap!"  When I inquired, the man said 200, (like $3), and I was excited, until he said 200,000 that is ($300).  Apparently it is a valuable antique.  I was surprised to find a valuable antique, since most of the shops here have mass-produced tourist junk.  We're trying to keep our purchases interesting, unique, and of high quality.