My German colleague and I were invited to take part in a workshop on child protection that very weekend. It was impressive to see how committed all the staff from the schools and the Austrian Doctors medical team were to working on this burning issue.
On Sunday – a weekday in Bangladesh – our actual work began in the newly created outpatient clinic in the training center, a kind of vocational school that was financed and built by Austrian Doctors only 1.5 years ago.
On the other days, Rohman, our driver with the team, the pharmacist, the translator and the head of the patient organization, took us to various slums in the morning, where we unpacked our equipment in Austrian Doctors schools. We were eagerly awaited by the waiting children, women and men.
As a pediatrician, I was primarily supposed to look after the little ones, but things often turned out differently. Many of them suffered from skin diseases, which are difficult to get rid of permanently due to the poor hygiene conditions in the very cramped living conditions. Bronchitis, asthma and pneumonia are not uncommon in the extremely polluted air of this city of 20 million people.
The fates of the people in the slums are characterized by hard work or even worse, poverty and hunger. Rickshaw drivers, construction workers and factory workers often suffered from severe pain or stress-related illnesses such as hypertension and angina pectoris. Many diabetics also came to us, as the nearest diabetes clinic is difficult to reach. Gynaecological advice was also in demand, e.g. in cases of an urgent desire to have children.
The malnourished infants and breastfeeding mothers, who sometimes didn’t even have enough to eat to breastfeed their babies sufficiently, were a burden for me. We were able to treat their acute infections, but we couldn’t help them in the long term. I was also very touched by the old people living on the streets as beggars.
In many cases, it was not so much our medication as a good conversation that was an important part of our treatment. The two local doctors, who usually came to our outpatient clinics around midday, work full-time at the hospital and therefore have little time for such conversations. Nevertheless, we were able to learn a lot from each other.
In the very first few days, a 15-year-old emaciated girl sat crying in front of me with her toddler. She had been married off at the age of 13 and her husband had left her. She had never attended school, had no support and could not earn any money. Babul offered to help her, but she refused everything because the man had promised to return to her. We were on the verge of tears.
Many children do not attend school or drop out early and therefore have little chance of regular work. This and the widespread poverty and malnutrition often left me at a loss.
Is education or medical aid more important in this country? Austrian Doctors helps in both areas.
I am happy and grateful that I was able to work with this team. Maybe I can come back again one day.
