74 patients today, some pretty intense stories. I struggled today between absolute frustration and horror at man’s inhumanity to man. Both from war and torture and for allowing people to live in this desperate situation and allowing there to be nothing done. It’s just so wrong.
We had several sick babies today and I was thinking how my grandson learned to crawl and walk on a clean carpet and clean kitchen floors. These babies will learn to walk on rocky, dirty slopes with rats and snakes. These babies come to us full of welts from bedbug bites and covered in rashes from scabies. In a jungle camp of thousands we can NOT do anything about this.
Today several elder Syrians came to clinic limping from their arthritis. Can you imagine being in your 60’s and 70’s and living in a trekking tent, sleeping on the ground, queuing for food for hours and for months and months? We can give them paracetamol for their arthritic pain but that is all we can do.
I saw a man in clinic, 40 years old, he has been here for one month. Three weeks ago he had been hit in the head with a stick, knocked unconscious, taken to the hospital and kept as an inpatient for two weeks. He was told he had a skull fracture and would need surgery in Athens. He was discharged from the hospital back to his tent, has paperwork for his transfer to Athens and has been told it could take three months. That is just crazy!!!! Hopefully he will survive. Meanwhile, he says he has terrible headaches and is losing his vision.
Today Tama and I are meeting with MSF (Doctors Without Borders). They are here for a few days a week and see all pregnant woman and any victims of sexual violence – of which there are many. It seems all the humanitarian aid ngos are stretched to capacity and are dispersed all over the globe. What does this say about us as humans?
The team has taken today off as the stress is huge and we need to catch our breaths so we can continue on. We will inventory and restock meds. After four days of clinic we are already running low on supplies. It is an endless pit of NEED.
