The long hard road of post-operative care, trauma counselling and reintegration continues after operations officially ended on the 31st of May.
The doctors worked long hours and put their utmost effort into each and every day of the 12 days of operation. The 213 women who entered the operating theatres are exceedingly grateful for the care and expertise of the doctors, anaesthetists, instrumentalists, and nurses without whom these operations are not possible. The Provincial Health Department and Dr Walter Strangway Hospital in Bie must also be recognised for liberating 4 operating rooms for the fistula team to conduct repair operations during this campaign and for providing state nurses to support the post-operative care.
In conjunction with the government, our team is now supporting the post-operative care of these women in 3 different locations in Cuito – there are 26 women at the Maternal Infant Centre, 30 women at the General Hospital, and 157 women at the São José Health Centre (re-opened just for the post-operative care of these women). Conditions are the best that the Provincial Department of Health can manage within a resource-limited context. As you may see in some photos, many of the women are sleeping on mattresses on the ground and in corridors, as there are not enough bed frames or ward spaces available.
Thanks to Fistula Foundation funding, Votoka has managed to buy 212 mosquito nets – one for each woman operated on. Logistically we are doing our best to get the nets mounted so they can be properly used – without bed frames it requires stringing wires that they can be suspended from. At the end of their recovery period each woman will take her mosquito net home, to continue to provide protection from malaria, dengue and other mosquito borne infections.
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