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From: Ivan M Suzman <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Caring Hands Award >How about Camilla Flintermann??? I endorse this. Absolutely. And hope things are getting better for her and Peter. From: Dennis Greene <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Family nursing in the 3rd world/shame in the 1st >2 weeks ago I saw, on Australia's excellent SBS channel, a documentry on the Central Hospital, which is in Conakry, the capital city of the west african nation of Guinea. The hospital was described as being the main medical centre of both the city and the nation. Poverty (an average annual income of US$510) has resulted in a horrifying situation. Families provide not only the nursing service but also have to provide the drugs, in the sense that once the doctors have written the procription, it must be collect and paid for from the hospital pharmacy by family members who then hand it over to the medically trained staff to administer. NO FAMILY MEMBER TO COLLECT AND PAY FOR THE DRUGS - NO DRUGS ARE GIVEN. NO MONEY TO PAY FOR THE DRUGS - NO DRUGS ARE GIVEN. If, as apparently often happens, the hospital pharmacy is >I was left with a profound sense of shame. I live in a country with one of the finest medical services in the world. We have an oversupply of doctors, free hospitalisation in world class hospitals equiped with every- thing money can buy and staffed by highly trained professionals. Yet we want more. We complain if we have to wait 30 mins past our appointment time, we object at length if we have to wait for surgery, we protest at delays in getting the latest 'wonder drug'. Dennis, it isn't so very different here in India, where the only support systems are those that family and friends can provide (and with our aping the west, those are also breaking down). Let me tell you another depressing story I heard just 2 days ago. A neurosurgeon at one of our local "government" (free, but overcrowded, dirty and lacking in basic facilities, as opposed to "private", exorbitantly expensive, hospitals) had spent some time at (I think) the Karolinska Institute, where he was exposed to the surgical procedures for Parkinsons. He described it thus: It's a beautiful procedure; the patient is fully conscious, by the end of the operation, the tremors stop, and he can drink a glass of water on his own, and walk out of the room. He wanted to get the equipment here, sanctions were duly obtained. Then the local rep of a rival manufacturer wrote an anonymous letter, asking why the Swedish equipment was being preferred to the German or American, the inquiry went into a spin, the project was dumped. It makes me want to weep, when I think of the suffering that could have been prevented. The doctor's demoralized, and wondering if he's a fool, not moving to a private hospital, where he'll get the equipment he wants, but only a very tiny percentage of people will be able to afford the expense. Does anyone on the list have any idea about whether organizational funding exists to help developing countries obtain such equipment? Regards, Sarita Agarwal [log in to unmask]