June 2013 - Oshwal Centre

Sierra Leone
Medical Camp
Article by Sachin Shah
SIERRA LEONE – MAY 2012 - It all started when I
was sitting on a beach in Cambodia and I received
an email from a friend about volunteering at a
medical camp in Sierra Leone. The charity
organising the trip, Better Lives Foundation, run
three medical camps a year in a small purpose built
hospital in Yonibana, 88 miles from the capital,
Freetown. They were reaching out for pharmacists
and other medical professionals, who were
interested in going to Sierra Leone to volunteer in
one of their medical camps. As a newly qualified
pharmacist, I thought this would be a great
opportunity to use my skills and give something
back to the less fortunate.
When agreeing to go on this trip, I didn’t know much
about the charity, the medical camp or what I was
going to do out there. Fortunately, the charity
arranged a pre-camp meeting a month before we
were set out to fly to Sierra Leone. This gave me a
chance to learn more about the camp and meet
some of the doctors, pharmacists, nurses and
volunteers that I would be working with.
To give a bit of background, Sierra Leone is located
on the West Coast of Africa with a population of
5.5million; it is roughly the same size as Scotland!
Around 60% of the population live on less than a
dollar a day and the country only has about 150
doctors in total. Sierra Leone is one of the poorest
countries in Africa in terms of infrastructure. It has
been devastated by 10 years of civil war that only
finished a decade ago. Electricity is scarce and
there is virtually no clean water. Life expectancy
stands at a shocking 42 years.
Being a newly qualified pharmacist, I was worried
that I would be completely out of my depth. I
therefore did as much research as possible on some
of the medical conditions and diseases (e.g.
Malaria) that are commonly found in West Africa and
the procedures for treatment.
The day finally arrived for me to go to Heathrow
airport with my little trolley bag and meet the other
24 volunteers (including doctors, pharmacists,
nurses, GPs, medical students, engineers, I.T.
technicians and general assistants). I was both
excited and nervous, not knowing what to expect on
this once in a lifetime experience. We were not
allowed to take suitcases as our weight allowance
was used to transport medical supplies, food,
clothes, books and equipment.
After a 7 hour flight, we
arrived in the capital,
Freetown and then had
a long, bumpy coach
ride to the Yonibana Sai
Hospital. Yonibana Sai
Hospital is a permanent
base hospital that has a
guest-house for
volunteers. The guesthouse
was constructed
in 2008 and the rooms
were basic, each with 3
or 4 mattresses on the
floor.
The next morning we
woke up at 6am. After a
cold shower and some breakfast we walked into the
hospital to start unpacking and preparing for the
medical camp. The hospital was only partially open
on this day but there were still queues of people
waiting outside for treatment. We were then
introduced to the local volunteers, who are being
funded by Better Lives Foundation to become
qualified nurses and health-care assistants. I was
buzzing with energy and could not wait to see how I
could help these people.
We unpacked all the medical supplies and began
setting up the pharmacy and other medical rooms.
We could see the urgent need for the medication as
Oshwal Youth Magazine of O.A.U.K. 4 June 2013 Edition