How to Provide Medical Care for Poor People in Places Without Access to Morphine, X-rays or Lab Exams.

By Paul Sinclair (One World One People) 3/11/02

'Dr Yves Wery works in an Aids Hospice in Thailand. He has been working there for two years. His patients are poor Thai people who have contracted
HIV / Aids and have nowhere else to go. To facilitate the work there and to help other Doctors and Medical Personnel work effectively in poor societies with limited access to modern medical equipment and drugs, he has created a special website.

Help nurses distributing medicine at the Aids hospice.


The purposes of the site are:

1. To create a system to improve and exchange medical protocols that do not require labs/x-rays/morphine.

2. To provide and exchange medical photos which may assist diagnosis.

3. To try to involve Doctors, medically trained people and Non-Government Organisations in the work of the hospice.

To view the sites extensive range of medical photographs, descriptions and protocols, please click this link.
(Caution. The protocols are NOT adequate for diagnosis and treatment in places where X-rays, lab examinations and specialised doctors are available!)

His website also offers a virtual visit of the hospice where he works in Thailand.

Below are just some of his experiences from working in an Aids Hospice:

"I go to a patient's bedside and ask him if he wants something. He answers me: "Touch me ". I touch him, I tighten my hold. He has moist eyes.

I go to the bedside of an old patient. I examine her with naked hands. She begins to cry of emotion and tells me: "You dared to touch me! Oh doctor! You dared to touch me!"

Since then I touch them, touch them again, with both palms open. I don't use gloves except if prudence imposes it. It is rare."

"A Western visitor asks me to take an interest in a depressive patient who had cried before him. I made him speak and he cried a second time, for some valid reasons, I admit. Because I have a stone heart by habit, I got quickly tired of the conversation and used the pretext of the urgent needs of another patient to leave him. Another Westerner came to take over and the patient cries a third time… Finally, a Thai help nurse who had observed all from afar comes to his bedside when he was again alone and tries to make him laugh. She succeeds…

Middle of the ward, a radio sang: "Happy birthday to you!" One of the fated patients that knew some words in English sang: "Happy dead day to you." Other patients sang with him. And they laughed, laughed…

…The mystery of Thai culture fascinates me."



Click here to view images from the Aids Hospice, Thailand


Other articles about the Aids Hospice:

Glorious Thailand, Part 4, Helping Monks Care for Aids Suffers, 14 August 2002

Glorious Thailand, Part 5, Family: The Real Meaning of Being Human, 21 October 2002



If you are interested in volunteering at the Aids Hospice or helping Dr Yves Wery he can be contacted through:

http://www.aids-hospice.com



Help nurses at the Hospice

© One World One People, 2 November 2002
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