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I posted the item below to the list a year or so ago. The recent 'Hospitals' thread brought it to mind. Whilst I am aware of and fully support the need to increase the PD awareness of hospital staff I am reposting this as a reminder of just how lucky we are in "the West" in comparison to some parts of the 3rd world. Dennis +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I recently saw a documentary on the Central Hospital 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 prescription, they must be collected, and paid for, from the hospital pharmacy by family members or friends who then hand them over to the medically trained staff to administer. No family member or friend to collect and pay for the drugs - no drugs are given. No money to pay for the drugs up front - no drugs are given. If, as apparently often happens, the hospital pharmacy is unable to fill the prescription, the family member or friend has to try and get it filled by an external, private pharmacy. In one instance a man brought to the ER with meningitis, died after 8 hrs of being unattended other than being diagnosed. He died because he had no family or friend to help him and because the ER had only 2 overworked doctors on duty, no nursing staff, and no drugs other than those purchased for other patients. The ER itself is located in a separate building to the main hospital and is the only part of the complex that a patient can enter without paying in advance. The Intensive care unit comprises a ward equipped only with beds. One nurse attends 8 patients. The mortality rate is 70%. What staff the hospital has are well qualified and as dedicated as anywhere else in the world. They know the limitations of their system and do what they can to minimise its deficiencies. None of this invalidates the love and caring of the family members who, often at great sacrifice to themselves, try to fill the gaps. But it is an indictment on us all that their sacrifice is necessary. 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 equipped with everything 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'. Perhaps we need to rethink our priorities We don't know when we're lucky +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Dennis Greene 49/dx 37/ onset 32 There's nothing wrong with me that a cure for PD won't fix! [log in to unmask] http://members.networx.net.au/~dennisg/ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++