Third World Part 3: Nepal and the Himalayan Experience
By Howard, MD, PhD
For several months, there was unceasing, hard work at the isolated hospital at Madugoda, Sri Lanka, making daily rounds on the wards, the emergency and outpatient departments, and vaccinating several hundred children against, yes, measles, mumps and chicken pox and cholera in clinics set up outdoors. The clinic consisted of a long table manned by nurses keeping records and lines of villagers formed behind the tables. The one time I actually felt useful was when a young man came to the emergency department with obvious symptoms of spinal meningitis and I was able to demonstrate to Rajig how to perform a spinal tap and obtain a few cc of murky spinal fluid which showed the presence of E. Coli, and treatable with antibiotics. When it came time for the mosquito spraying, I let Rajig take over completely, as I watched the operation.
But, it finally came time to depart from Rajig and Madugoda, which I did with remorse. We had formed a close attachment to each other, arriving as strangers, but leaving as brothers. I made my way back to Kathmandu by bus, where I made my plans to return to the U. S. for the completion of my Internship and Residency, but not until I had taken in a few more wonders in this exotic part of the world. Therefore. I studied my map and made plans for a short trek in the Himalayas, a brief visit to the 8th wonder of the world, the Taj Mahal, and a reasonable bus route across the Islamic nations of Southeast Asia to Istanbul where I would meet up with my twin daughters arriving from Munich on the Orient Express.
TO BE CONTINUED…
