 |
|
|
|
 |
| USAID Information:
External Links:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yemen Stories
Nurses and Doctors in Marib Hospitals Get Equipment and Training
Somali-born internist Abdul Rashid Mahmoud Ali told a visitor that modern microscopes and ultrasound machines are extremely welcome and useful.
|
Droula Ali, 25, had traveled 30 kilometers with her child by car across the sandy reaches of Marib Governorate to reach the district hospital so her child could get a vaccination and she could get information about family planning. Six months ago she was treated here successfully for a burning pain that turned out to be a urinary tract infection.
"I know the United States supports this hospital," she told a visitor. "I am happy for it and want more support."
A U.S.-funded project has supplied the hospital with laboratory and ultrasound equipment, training for nursing and other staff, and medical supplies.
Sitting in his office at the 7th of July Hospital in Majzer district, Somali-born internist Abdul Rashid Mahmoud Ali told a visitor that modern microscopes and ultrasound machines are extremely welcome and useful. However he noted that traditional problems continue to trouble health care in Yemen.
"Eighty-five percent of women will not accept a male health provider," said Dr. Ali.
"I have to treat women through dialogue with her husband, then external touch then lab tests leading to a diagnosis."
Doula Ali brought her baby 30 kilometers by car to the hospital in Yemen's Marib Governorate. She came for vaccinations for the child and to discuss obtaining family planning. She said she knows the hospital is supported by U.s. assistance and hopes there will be more.
|
The illnesses he sees nearly every day in the hospital include malaria, typhoid, anemia, malnutrition - especially in children and pregnant women--, diarrhea and respiratory infections, the doctor said.
But poverty is at the root of many problems: "This is a very poor community," he said. There is a lack of clean water so many people develop bilharzias, hepatitis, dysentery and cholera. "We need to train health workers to educate people on family planning, vaccinations and pre-natal care," he said. "We need public toilets so when it rains we don't have dirty water spreading disease."
Nurse Guma Hajir was trained to work on nutrition through a U.S. project. "Meat is cheap," she said. "But maybe the father or mother eat the meat and don't know its importance for their children." She travels on foot to reach villagers and educate them on sound nutrition.
The 7th of July Hospital serves about 13,000 people dispersed over a large, arid region.
At the nearby Medghal District Hospital, U.S. aid has also provided ultrasound equipment to diagnose problems during pregnancy and other issues. It also gave microscopes and other lab equipment to identify malaria parasites in blood and other problems. 
To provide doctors, nurses and other skilled medical workers with safe and healthy accomodation in a remote hospital in Yemen's Marib Governorate, U.S. aid has built housing and supplied an ambulance to transport critical patients.
|
And since educated health workers such as doctors and nurses would find it hard to live in the mud and stone houses of the poor region, U.S. aid built a small house with apartments for the medical staff. The hospital also has a four-wheel drive ambulance to take patents to the bigger hospitals of Marib City or Sanaa.
One woman patient told of coming 15 kilometers to the hospital, accompanied by her brother. "This is a good place," he said, and he will allow his sister to be treated by the doctors.
The hospital has a delivery room for safe delivery of babies, an autoclave to sterilize instruments and suction machines - all supplied by a U.S. aid program.
Because of the hospital's reputation for cleanliness and good care, two thirs of the district's babies are born in the hospital and one third a reborn at home. This is far better than the national average for Yemen where only 16 percent of babies are born in hospitals.
Back to Top ^
|
