Information Related to "Africa's AIDS Crisis: A Doctor's Firsthand Account"
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Africa's AIDS Crisis: A Doctor's Firsthand Account By Cecil Maranville "Then it hit me, 'I'm playing God,'" writes a doctor treating AIDS patients in Africa. Read the doctor's sobering account of the horrors of the unending calamity.
ue to the shockingly candid details related in the letters below, the writer, a doctor, has asked that we delete any comments that might reveal his identity. Warning: His account is extremely sobering and distressing. Sub-Saharan Africa, early 2001 -- "The main reason I can't wait to get out of here is that my personality is suddenly altering. They say it's called, 'becoming a doctor.' [Here] that means your main emotion when a patient dies is relief.
"We go through the motions of testing them, but I don't know why. We admit them, rehydrate them and all that we succeed in doing is prolonging their death by a week or two. We are now at the point where we refuse to give them any active treatment (antibiotics, antifungals, even blood), which includes resuscitation. It's quite simple -- even with active treatment, the only difference you make is a few weeks. (They always wait until they are terminal before arriving at the hospital.) So, why waste money you don't have to begin with? "The other day, I caught myself saying out loud that we should start refusing to admit HIV-positive patients, since we're only prolonging the inevitable. We're turning away patients with asthma and diabetes, patients with controllable diseases who could contribute to the economy, because AIDS patients are taking up all the beds. Playing God "And then, it hit me, 'I'm playing God.' If we start doing that, we might as well start denying medical care to old people and premature babies, because they no longer contribute to society. We might as well start turning away patients with other terminal illnesses, like cancer and multiple sclerosis, because we're only prolonging the inevitable.
"Some are beyond caring. Their eyes are already dead, which is why you check each patient's pulse before discussing them. We use pseudonyms like 'retrovirus' or 'high five' for HIV and 'Koch's bacillus' for TB in an effort to maintain privacy. But they all know the telltale wailing following the post-test 'You have HIV' speech. Haunting experience "Not all of the deaths here go unnoticed. One of my patients will always haunt me. As I mentioned, most of the AIDS patients have pretty typical appearances (skinny and coughing).
"If we could pull her through the pneumocystis pneumonia, she could still have a few good years left. So we put her on oxygen, nebulizations and antibiotics. For two days, I had to walk into the ward and watch her struggling to breathe. For two days, she couldn't sleep for fear of forgetting to breathe. The [nurses] were unfortunately 'forgetting' to give the full dose of antibiotics. On the morning of the third day, she looked worse than ever when I arrived. I can't describe the feeling of powerlessness when you realize that you can't give anything to 'make it go away.' The only option left to us was to give her small doses of opioids to make the struggling for each breath at least seem less painful. "When we came round later in the day with the consultant, the patient had finally fallen asleep. He was impressed by her improvement and decided to forgo the opioids. As we moved on to the next patient, I suddenly knew that I would never see her alive again. She died that night. But for the grace of God "Most of all, you wander between the patients and know that, but for the grace of God and a single needle-stick wound, that could be you. "I'm beginning to hate medicine [here].
"And, the state doesn't [care]. They no longer even provide us with free anti-HIV drugs (AZT, etc.), following a needle-stick injury... We can't afford that. "And... they wonder why we're leaving the country. "I hope [these letters get] people thinking twice, whether it's about unsafe sex or an awareness of human fragility" (end of letters; emphasis added throughout). No easy way to say it There's no easy way to describe the desperate situation gripping Africa. A 2001 South African government report revealed that one in every nine of its citizens and nearly 25 percent of pregnant women are HIV positive. The same report forewarned that, by 2016, the country's population would begin to shrink, because the number of deaths due to HIV will surpass the number of births. A single faint glimmer of hope appeared in statistics that show a marginal decline in HIV infection rates in regions where there have been sex education campaigns -- no easy task, given the centuries-old taboos and traditions. Promiscuity alone is not the reason for the rapid spread of AIDS on the African continent. Many diseases that have been largely controlled in the West by advanced medicine are rampant in Africa. They include malaria, syphilis, gonorrhea, tuberculosis and pneumonia. Diseases that involve open sores and exposure to bodily fluids boost the proliferation of AIDS.
A race to develop an AIDS vaccine is underway in the international medical community. Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has personally donated $100 million to the research, challenging other wealthy people to contribute generously as well. Mr. Gates' Microsoft Corporation has raised nearly a quarter of a billion dollars for the project so far. AIDS drugs are notoriously expensive, literally out of reach for the average African government or private citizen. However, cheaper, generic versions of the patented drugs are available. No effective anti-AIDS drug has yet been developed. Even if it were, and could be made available in generic form to the afflicted African nations, could AIDS be stopped? No one to run between the dead and the dying Numbers 16:4-48 tells of a plague that struck Israel when Moses and his brother, Aaron, governed it. At Moses' urging, Aaron literally ran between the dead and the dying with the means to stay the plague. African governments do not work as efficiently. Michael Ledeen, who spent many years in sub-Saharan Africa and saw AIDS firsthand, wrote in his March 27, 2001, column -- titled "Fighting AIDS Is a Losing Proposition" -- that distributing medicine through African governments would never work.
Unless the West virtually creates and imposes the missing infrastructure, Mr. Ledeen continues, "No matter how generously we donate medicine to Africa, a huge bloc of Africans will never receive it..." Many African leaders, he warns, would enrich themselves by selling cheap medications at a markup. Further, they would probably use medicine as a political weapon. Those who ally themselves with the leaders would receive medication, while those who did not would be frozen out of any supplies. Witness that type of political manipulation in the distribution of food relief in famine-stricken African countries. "Is it hopeless, then?" Mr. Ledeen asks. His answer: "Most likely, it is, at least in the sense of 'solving the problem.'" Hope for the hopeless We sincerely hope that Mr. Ledeen is wrong, and that ways will be found to bring relief to the millions suffering from this dread disease. However, our hope doesn't rest in man's capabilities.
As Aaron interposed himself between the dead and the dying, Jesus the Messiah will intervene at His return to bring healing to the nations (Isaiah 35:5-6; Luke 4:17-21). Clearly our world desperately needs two kinds of healing -- an immediate intervention to restore physical health and soundness to the millions who suffer, and a spiritual healing of the character of individuals and their governments that have brought on the dark days in which we live. Therein lies the hope of Africa. God speed the dawning of that day of healing. Copyright 2007 by United Church of God, an International Association All rights reserved. |
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Keywords: AIDS Africa sexual promiscuity
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