It wasn't news we wanted to hear. On Friday evening we had a call from Peter, our agricultural trainer, saying he had been hit by a boda boda while jogging on the side of the road and had been taken to a military hospital with a broken leg.
A boda boda is basically a motorbike carrying a load. You have no doubt seen or heard about the crazy loads that people carry on bikes here. Well, the photos may be good for a laugh, but in all seriousness, these overloaded, poorly driven bikes can be very dangerous. Many lose their lives every year here in motorbike accidents on the roads.
Peter had been hit by a motorbike pulling a trailer with a large load of logs which stuck out to the side and caught him on the leg. Thankfully the driver who hit Peter was extremely sorry and helpful and managed to get him somehow to the hospital. And thankfully other than the leg, there were no other injuries, but our immediate concern was getting his leg properly set. We have seen and heard too many stories of legs not properly set or operations gone wrong in poor hospital conditions.
Tim was able to visit him first thing Saturday morning with our good friend, Dr Bernard Makori (along with some bread, water and cash). It took a while to gain admission to the hospital... first of all it wasn't visiting hours at the time and then they had to wait for the changing of the guard, but one guy got it rather wrong and they had to start all over again! The hospital was basic (Peter was in the men's ward which had six beds, three of which were occupied), but Tim and Dr Bernard were satisfied that the hospital would be okay and the senior doctor (a Major in the army) turned out to be a good Christian friend of Dr Bernard's. After looking at the x-ray, they were confident that the leg could be easily set and would heal well. But he would have to wait until the swelling went down before they would set the leg. Surgery was set for today.
The poor guy has been in a lot of pain since then. Tim went again today to visit, but was turned away at the door by a guard who said that no foreigners were allowed in. But he was with Pastor Amon, (not a foreigner!) who was given 3 minutes to take the bread they had to Peter and get back out. Such is life in a military hospital, I suppose.
The surgery scheduled for today to set his leg didn't happen. He waited all day, but will wait again tomorrow. Tanzanian time in this case is rather more painful.
But one thing is for sure, it makes one grateful for the NHS!
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| Peter working in Kayenze |
Peter had been hit by a motorbike pulling a trailer with a large load of logs which stuck out to the side and caught him on the leg. Thankfully the driver who hit Peter was extremely sorry and helpful and managed to get him somehow to the hospital. And thankfully other than the leg, there were no other injuries, but our immediate concern was getting his leg properly set. We have seen and heard too many stories of legs not properly set or operations gone wrong in poor hospital conditions.
Tim was able to visit him first thing Saturday morning with our good friend, Dr Bernard Makori (along with some bread, water and cash). It took a while to gain admission to the hospital... first of all it wasn't visiting hours at the time and then they had to wait for the changing of the guard, but one guy got it rather wrong and they had to start all over again! The hospital was basic (Peter was in the men's ward which had six beds, three of which were occupied), but Tim and Dr Bernard were satisfied that the hospital would be okay and the senior doctor (a Major in the army) turned out to be a good Christian friend of Dr Bernard's. After looking at the x-ray, they were confident that the leg could be easily set and would heal well. But he would have to wait until the swelling went down before they would set the leg. Surgery was set for today.
The poor guy has been in a lot of pain since then. Tim went again today to visit, but was turned away at the door by a guard who said that no foreigners were allowed in. But he was with Pastor Amon, (not a foreigner!) who was given 3 minutes to take the bread they had to Peter and get back out. Such is life in a military hospital, I suppose.
The surgery scheduled for today to set his leg didn't happen. He waited all day, but will wait again tomorrow. Tanzanian time in this case is rather more painful.
But one thing is for sure, it makes one grateful for the NHS!
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ReplyDeleteNice blog you havve
ReplyDeletewow that's a sad story. I'm sure Peter was a good guy and I hope the doctors were able to help him quickly so he could recover. Those boda boda things look crazy.
ReplyDelete