An ectopic pregnancy: Julia Christina Bösch has to open the patient’s abdomen. She does so with a targeted incision. Immediately afterwards, a surgical nurse moves a ladle into the gaping wound and draws blood so that an autologous blood transfusion can be carried out. The woman survived thanks to this maneuver. Julia Bösch is grateful for this.
During her two-month assignment in a bush hospital in Sierra Leone, the gynecologist from Lustenau treated many such emergencies under the most primitive conditions. But she would not want to miss a single day. Not only does she appreciate more than ever what the healthcare system has to offer here, the young woman now feels equipped for anything. “Nothing is going to knock me for six,” she says and smiles.
Doctors for Africa
Julia Bösch completed her medical studies in Innsbruck. She went to Switzerland for further training. She became a gynecologist because this medical discipline combines all the emotions of life. As a specialist, Bösch also wanted to put her eight years of experience to good use in a third world country. On the internet, she came across the Austrian Doctors, a partner organization of the German Doctors, which has been sending doctors to Africa for thirty years. “The organization was looking for a specialist in gynaecology for the exact period that suited me,” says Julia Bösch. She applied and was on her way to Sierra Leone in August.
Although Serabu Hospital is only thirty kilometers away from the next larger town of Bo, it is located in the middle of the bush and can only be reached via a narrow, bumpy road. “It took us three hours to get there by jeep,” reports the doctor with a degree in singing. The transition from here to there also proved to be tough. “Sometimes we didn’t even have a proper thread to sew up surgical wounds. “
This and numerous other shortcomings meant that adrenaline levels were permanently high, especially in the first few days. “With us, you press a button and it runs. In Serabu, improvisation was everything,” Bösch explains the structural difference. The intention remained the same. It was about saving lives. At the same time, the doctor also learned how robust people can be.
14 twin births
Every day, there were numerous patients to treat or obstetric interventions to be carried out. With shining eyes, Julia Bösch talks about 14 spontaneous twin births that she attended, all of which ended well. And about the fact that there are now several Julias around Serabu.
But the doctors from the West are not only involved in medical matters. They are also supposed to train the local staff. “Sierra Leone has very few doctors, and they don’t want to work in a bush hospital. That’s why they help themselves with clinical health officers,” explains Bösch. These are people with three years of basic training. They learn their practical skills from visiting doctors.
