Simon Oczkowski... The bitten man Reflections on international health

From the open source journal Open Medicine...

Tucked away somewhere in the twisting innards of Mulago Hospital, Kampala, Uganda, there lies the pink, neatly stapled medical file of a man who is doomed to die. I know this because I saw him on Thursday night.

“There’s an interesting case you should see if you have time,” said the attending physician cheerily. “You should look up his condition in your book and take a history. It might be good for a case write-up when you get home.”

We had just stepped into the casualty department, hoping to catch some of the evening’s action. It seemed as though the action had found us. Puzzled, one of us asked what the patient had.

“Rabies, a classic case,” the physician said. She paused. “But I’m not sure what to do about it.” Having had her say, she closed the door to the treatment room behind her, leaving us alone in the crowded hallway.

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