eMagazine January 2023
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OUR PEOPLE,<br />
OUR MISSION<br />
Global Health<br />
<strong>eMagazine</strong><br />
<strong>January</strong> <strong>2023</strong><br />
Reflections<br />
Keep silent!<br />
Written by Hossein Akbari, MD,MSc<br />
NVH Global Health Academy Faculty<br />
Perspective<br />
Highlights<br />
Reflections<br />
Innovation and Technology<br />
Nursing Division<br />
Women’s Health Education<br />
Global Local<br />
Art to Remind Us of Who<br />
We Can Be<br />
Article of the Month<br />
Video of the Month<br />
Our Beautiful Planet<br />
Welcome<br />
Congratulations<br />
Among the Letters<br />
Global Health Family<br />
Calendar<br />
Photo News<br />
Photo Gallery<br />
Resources<br />
When being asked to review papers on<br />
health equality, I usually decline, as I still<br />
have a bad feeling about one encounter.<br />
It was my birthday, and I was 6,000 km<br />
away from family and friends. But I had<br />
hope. There were amazing days in Mulago,<br />
with deep self-reflection and a drive to be<br />
with those in need.<br />
I had a hectic schedule that day. A patient suffering from burns who required<br />
major debridement. I was able to find a surgical gown and join the sevenhour<br />
procedure, split by two breaks that I wish I hadn’t taken.<br />
During the first break, I had just left OR 1 and was walking through the dimlylit<br />
hall when I saw a young woman, possibly 23-24, and very scared. Nobody<br />
was around and she was waiting for the surgery. I couldn’t just leave her,<br />
though sometimes I wish I had.<br />
There was no note around to review, so I asked her what happened. She<br />
spoke a few words in English and Luganda and in brief, stated that she was<br />
very anxious about the foot operation that the doctors said she needed.<br />
I saw her leg in a yellow plastic bag, which was surprising but I did inquire<br />
further. I tried to make her comfortable and mentioned that she does not<br />
need to be worried as the physicians only do it for her sake, especially in<br />
resource-constrained regions. Again, I wish I had remained silent.<br />
Two hours later, during the next break, I came directly to her room where I<br />
witnessed the most tragic scene I have ever seen in Mulago: a lower limb<br />
thrown in a bin-shaped metal container with a very unpleasant smell. The<br />
operation was an above-the-knee amputation. I was shocked. I thought of<br />
the fate of women in this region at baseline, let alone women with limited<br />
mobility.<br />
I immediately sat somewhere in the hall to collect myself before asking those<br />
better-informed about the whole story.<br />
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