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Journey to Afghanistan

Khorasan - Chapter 9 - Page 25

My journal records other patients that especially impressed me. "A lactating mother with a large necrotic breast abscess, a boy with a perianal granuloma, a lady with severe untreated rheumatoid arthritis for four years, a boy with severe burns - being cleaned and treated with silvadene creme, dressings applied, etc."

I had brought a lot of "Whirlygigs" with me from America. They were made of firm cardboard discs with a circle of string going through on either side of the center. As we left after our days work, I tried to show some of the children just outside our clinic gate how to twirl them to wind the string up, then to gently pull and release to unwind the rewind the little discs. Like kids everywhere they tended to pull too vigorously but gradually learned and made them hum! However, shortly there gathered a totally uncontrolled crowd of children. I learned the necessity to do such in a more private setting, one child at a time. It was fun.

That evening we took a tiny baby with a cleft lip and palate, and a lady with abdominal pain to the Jordanian Hospital near the previously bombed-out airport of Mazar-e-Sharif. This hospital had been flown in with much American help and had highly qualified medical personnel and excellent equipment. Security was tight and indeed many people were being stopped, questioned and searched at about four separate check points. I'm sure that many were never allowed near the hospital. I wondered how they were screened.

At each checkpoint, our situation was explained by Doctor Nadia with surprisingly forceful voice and motions. We journeyed past the wreckage of houses, several armored vehicles and MIGs on the airport's border. At the last checkpoint all the Afghan helpers and patients had to get out of the van and were searched or gone over with wands. I showed them my identification and was motioned to stay seated.

The Jordanian doctors were most kind and pleasant. The child with the cleft palate was to return in four months for further consideration while the lady with abdominal pain was kept for ongoing work-up They wanted me to tour their facility but curfew time in Mazar was close and we needed to return promptly to our base camp. Later I was privileged to have more time and took several tours of their excellent tent-hospital facility.

I spent many similar days at Khorasan during my remaining weeks in February and later when I returned in April-May. During this time our NGO, Northwest Medical Teams, helped by providing doctors, medications and hospital costs when necessary for thousands of distressed patients. As I became more familiar with expectations and procedures I worked independently with a translator but continued to frequently discuss patients with our Afghan confederates as did they with us. It was a good arrangement.

On returning in the Spring this camp had under a thousand refugees remaining. Most of the tiny pup-tents had been removed. The mud impregnated with fecal material remained. Various Non Government Organizations (NGOs) under the direction of UNOCHA, the United Nations Organization Coordinating Humanitarian Activities, had been working successfully to return refugees to their own villages. They provided temporary shelters, food and seed for planting, as well as some transportation, as incentives. I was impressed that in general the refugees were grateful to be returning home.

Many of the patients we saw in Khorasan in the Spring were not only from the camp but also from northern Mazar and some nearby villages. There were fewer pneumonias then but more gastroenteritis and chronic ailments. They were certainly needing care but the decreased load enabled us to see patients in many other areas.

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