The sun was already strong as we set off at 8:30am on the road to Zingubar. It was only 15 minutes to the first army check point at the border between the 2 governorates (Aden and Abyan) and as always the armed guard motioned for us to pull over and wait. Thankfully the Minister of Health in Abyan had written an official letter of travel permission for me to travel between Aden and Zingubar and Peter also had a special card with permission, so after a few minutes and discussions about where we were going and how long we'd be, we were allowed to continue on our journey. The second police checkpoint just before Zingubar was a similar scenario and we were allowed to pass without a police escort, which they sometimes insist we have.
Dr Sayeed in Clinic
Doctor Happy
I spent my morning in clinic with Dr Sayeed - Dr Happy by name and nature! He had a good manner with the patients and was truly interested in helping them as well as explaining about medicines that he was prescribing and general health promotion. However, as with many doctors here, he very rarely examined the patients and preferred to send them for lab tests. This may partly be due to pressure from the manager, as the clinic receives money for each test that a patient has done.
Outside the clinic
Rugby Scrum
The clinic operates from 9am – 12pm, with 2 doctors consulting patients on a first come first served basis. Although that is only in theory, as the scene can be more of a rugby scrum, as patients push their way into the consulting rooms and often there will be 2 or 3 patients all trying to talk to the doctor at once! There are a number of nurses who try to organise the patients and prevent them from doing this but it can be a losing battle. The idea of queuing is very foreign in this culture!
Koronkah!
It sounds like something you don't want to catch – koronkah – which is Arabic for mumps. We saw a girl of 8 years with the tale telling signs of mumps. I asked about the MMR vaccine but it is not routinely given here and so doctors see a number of cases of Measles, Mumps or Rubella. I spent quite a lot of the morning learning Arabic words for medical terms which was really helpful. We saw other cases of patients with diarrhoeal diseases, diabetes, pneumonia and high blood pressure.
Kate in clinic
The rain came down and the floods came up
Parts of Yemen have been severely affected by heavy rain causing sudden flooding over the past week. In Zingubar the main bus station was flooded as were parts of the main street. The houses and roads have not been designed with good drainage for rain water and so quickly become affected, with mud houses being washed away. The Eastern areas of the Hadramut have been most affected with over 20,000 left homeless. There has been some rain fall but no flooding where we live.
