First trip to the wild west

Last Wednesday I went up to Danan?ith Jaap (the logistical coordinator) and a few others. It was a straightforward journey, being waved straight through most checkpoints. The motorway out of Abidjan could do with a bit of maintenance, but is still a surprisingly good road, also empty of traffic. We stopped for lunch and to fill up with fuel before entering the “Zone de confience” which in the west is held by Licorne (the French troops) and then north into the “Force Nouvelle” area (MPIGO). The journey took about eight and a half hours, all on road. The hospital is about ten minutes walk from the house - safe enough to do alone, although expat staff should carry a VHF radio. Jaap and I spent a very busy two days sorting out specific issues (the well, the water tower, backup generator and oxygen supply to the delivery room) as well as having a full tour of all the facilities. We spent a lot of time looking at the stock control and warehousing, which could with tightening up a bit. The workload of the logistician is huge - and since I’ll be taking over from the current guy in a few weeks, I’m taking advantage of not being drowned in paperwork and supervisory work to look into some of the more technical projects. The hospital itself is quite large and very busy. MSF-H are running the whole thing as well as two mobile clinics per day - with 9 expat staff and probably about 60 national staff. Most of the medical staff had to be hired from Abidjan, so there are issues such as staff housing and transport too. As well as a very busy out-patients, we now have about 40 of the 60 in-patients beds operational. The surgical block in a bit of sorry state - the operating theatre light is salvageable, but little else. After a couple of busy days we headed over to Bin Houy? a village about an hour and a half south where we have a base that we run two mobile clinics from. It is in FANCI held territory (not a problem at the moment as the checkpoints are relaxed), and half the journey is off road, (which can make accessibility difficult and the rainy season is just starting). Not without reason is the radio call sign for this base “paradise”- it is in a wonderful setting. Being a smaller project with little to do outside the compound (although we did manage lunch on Sunday at the only marquis that had food, and I did run with one of the nurses over to the next village) you are reliant on the good company of the other staff. Unfortunately my duties are going to be at the Danan?ospital, so I don’t think I’ll get able to visit paradise very often The journey back to Abidjan was uneventful - The view out the window is always interesting, but the iPod helps pass the time too. Five up in a Toyota Hilux does not give much room to move around and I had a very numb bum on arrival. The average speeds that we attain would be impossible on british A-roads - a lack of traffic helps and the main obstacles are the occasion huge pothole and suicidal goat.