Tuesday, February 19, 2013

The public hospital

We went to see the public hospital near by to get a sense of health care in Burundi.  These hospitals are in terrible condition, and in addition people must pay for treatment.  If they can't pay, they are held there until they are able to pay for their treatment. 

This is the maternal ward.  There is no ventilation - it was hard to bring myself to enter. 


This is a delivery room.  

This is the other side of the delivery room.  Most women, when faced with the option of going to hospitals like this or going home to deliver, choose to go home.  The maternal mortality rate in Burundi is about 1 in 9 as a result of this substandard care.  VHW stands out in the beauty and quality of the facility, but they still do not have surgical rooms in which to safely perform c-sections.  


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