It had been three days since I checked into this small clinic just across the road from my home, I had passed severally by this small blue, rectangular building that was now my second home never really paying attention to it until now. I had walked in here hoping to get first aid for my toddler. his nanny had called me from work saying that he was running a fever and vomiting. I found him very weak and had carried him here hoping for a quick fix so I could transfer him to my usual hospital.
However, after carrying out tests they chose to retain him and I was informed that his case was an emergency and he had to be put on several drips to stabilize him. He had a cannula inserted in his little hand and they kept replacing one drip after another drip and as a parent I had no option but to sit and watch on helplessly. I hadn’t slept for close to 72hours and my back ached, my mouth tasted of coffee and my stomach grumbled. I couldn’t bring myself to eat. Whoever was responsible for designing hospital beds had no regard for the attendant! It was impossible for me to squeeze myself on this bed for a quick nap.
The roadside clinic I found myself at was a small one with three cubicles. it was one large room which was sub divided into smaller cubicles using plywood and there were two narrow corridors one lined up with three benches and acted as the waiting area. Each of the cubicles had a small metallic wooden bed.
I was extremely tired and couldn’t wait for the father of my child to relieve me. I needed to stretch a bit because I could barely fill my legs. what I needed was eight straight hours of sleep but that would have to wait. I finally got a chance to dash out and head home for a quick shower, change of clothes and put more coffee in a thermos. I arrived back at the hospital but was in no hurry to get inside our cubicle so I opted to stand by the bench in the waiting area and interact with the people sitting there, majority of whom were mothers with their children. I began to probe gently as I wanted to know what ailments they were treating and why they were there. they were very forthcoming and seemed grateful for the distraction. I soon discovered that most children either had malaria or bacterial infections or both. They informed me that most were regulars here because there was a good pediatrician and were not bothered by the medical bills. all they were concerned with was getting their children back to health.
We continued speaking about the worrying state of health in our nation blaming everyone but ourselves when suddenly the clinic was brought to life by a man who rushed in carrying a 2year old boy in his arms and screaming for help. the little boy was foaming at the mouth and rolling his eyes. All the nurses and doctors rushed to save the boys life. They took the boy from the man and began to ask him questions as they worked. he said the boy had swallowed expired Anti-retroviral drugs and he didn’t not know how many tablets he had consumed. We watched as they used enema on the little boy to induce him to vomit. It was frightening to watch them push things in the boy’s anus and mouth and they took over an hour trying to revive the boy and finally succeeded.
We spent four days at this small clinic, watching people flock in and out with different ailments and finally we were discharged.
