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A gynaecological mission in Fotadrevo
It’s the beginning of the rainy season, but we are lucky: it only takes us nine hours to cover the 250 km from Tulear to Fotadrevo. The savannah is still brown, dry and dusty. Just a few weeks from now all this will be covered in soft green, and deep puddles will have formed where there is now dust road.
In the little town of Fotadrevo with its 4,000 inhabitants, our Malagasy partner charity converted an old rice mill into a small hospital. The courtyard is crowded. Nurses bustle to and fro, and dozens of patients are sitting in the shade, waiting for their treatment. Many of their relatives seem to have made themselves at home – all around, there are cooking fires and grass mats used as beds for the night.
The staff and patients of the Zoara hospital greet us joyfully. They are thankful for any support - there is so much to do.
The doctors on our mission, a gynaecologist and an anaesthetist, help wherever they can. They operate and assist, join the rounds for the 25-odd in-patients and pass on their expertise to the local staff in the daily morning briefings.
Dr. Elson Randrianantenaina und Dr. Detlef Merkle work hand in hand with intense concentration.
The conditions in the hospital are basic, to say the least. During the first few days, there is no running water and a flashlight is necessary to sufficiently illuminate the operating area. The operating table is rigged up from wood and during the surgery patients are respirated with a pumping bag by the anaesthetist. There are few surgical tools. Without any air-conditioning, the operating room (OR) often gets as hot as a sauna. The German doctors are struggling to get used to the new environment.
The second week changes everything: the 40-foot container sent by Doctors for Madagascar finally arrives in Fotadrevo! The whole OR can be newly equipped with the donated materials from Germany. The bright light, hydraulic operating table and new instruments hugely improve the working conditions. The OR even has running water now, thanks to the new water pump and a quickly assembled water tower.
However, there are still long waiting times between the surgeries, as the room and instruments need to be sterilised after every operation.
PROJECTS
17.03.2016
80% of Madagascans live in extreme poverty. As there is no universal health insurance, Doctors for Madagascar covers the medical costs for patients who otherwise could not afford medical care.
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17.11.2015
Doctors for Madagascar organises regular aid missions with volunteer doctors and medical staff from Europe. These volunteers treat patients directly and also provide training for local staff.
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01.10.2015
Southern Madagascar urgently needs qualified medical personnel. Our project "Skills to Save Lives" provides medical training for doctors, nurses and technical staff in one of the poorest areas of the country.
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01.09.2015
Pregnant women with severe labour complications often only reach a clinic after traveling for hours on an oxcart – with serious consequences for them and their child. Most have no access to pre-natal care. Doctors for Madagascar is working to improve care for pregnant women and newborns.
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17.08.2015
In Madagascar, patients are generally fed and cared for by their families. So that food shortages don't get in the way of treatment, Doctors for Madagascar covers the subsistence costs of all in-patients in our partner hospitals.
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17.07.2015
Many hospital buildings and health centres in Madagascar are in a desperate state, with no money for even the simplest repairs. Doctors for Madagascar supports hospitals and health centres to build and renovate essential facilities.
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17.06.2015
Kept in good condition, hospital equipment saves lives. But extreme climates, inconsistent electricity and inadequate maintenance in Africa wear out medical equipment much faster than in the UK. We provide not only medical equipment, but also training on maintenance and care.
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CLOSE UP
FUNDRAISING EVENTS
The Junges Ensemble Berlin, one of Germany’s leading youth orchestras, bewitched its audience with Beethoven’s masterful violin concerto and Prokofiev’s fiery Fifth Symphony. What an evening at the Berlin Philharmonic!
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FUNDRAISING EVENTS
Since 2012, Doctors for Madagascar has been an NGO partner at Praxis Update, a continuing medical education conference for GPs.
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PATIENT STORIES
Today a mother came into the hospital carrying a baby – one week old with ashen skin and a belly distended like a barrel.
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BEYOND MEDICINE
For a long time, relatives cooked meals for patients on traditional open fires in the wasteland outside the hospital site.
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PATIENT STORIES
April 2012: Sweaty and shivering with exertion, two oxen drag a heavily laden cart the last few metres to Fotadrevo hospital. The passenger, Tiana, has a 40°C fever and is nine months pregnant.
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MISSION REPORTS
Financing an aid mission yourself? Yes, it’s possible - Johannes Häußermann is the proof, with his crowdfunding drive "An Engineer for Madagascar".
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BACKGROUND
Developing countries have seen dramatic improvements in many areas over the last 15 years.
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BACKGROUND
Madagascar stands apart from sub-Saharan African nations with regard to HIV/AIDS rates. Why?
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PATIENT STORIES
The sun burns hot on 7th December 2012. One of Médecins Sans Frontières’ white 4x4s pulls into the gate of the hospital in Fotadrevo, carrying three women from the town of Bekily, 60 km away.
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ON THE GROUND
Nine hours’ worth of parched land pass by our 4x4 as we travel from Toliara to Fotadrevo. Cacti, shrubs, scant trees and now and then a village of mud huts. Sand and dust reach as far as the eye can see, in shades of red, brown and grey.
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