It comes to bite you in the butt...

Wednesday means I am halfway through the week! Thank goodness! Also Friday is African Union Day, so I might have the day off. Last night, I was talking with friends from ND. One of them asked me if the clinic can get in trouble for letting me write prescriptions and taking patients. I said that I wasn't sure who oversaw everything but that thus far, nobody has said anything. When I went into the office today, Oppong told me that for legal reasons, I cannot take patients and diagnose as I had been doing previously. I totally understand the legal reasoning behind it, so I did not take offense to it. I sat and observed Oppong work and went on rounds with Dr. Senya. The most interesting case was a girl who came into the clinic with severe abdominal pains. She was screaming and falling to the ground. I had to leave before he could finish diagnosing her, but it was interesting. There was also an overdose patient in the ER today. At one point, she fell off her bed and that pulled the IV partially out. 

After work, I took a taxi home and met Jen at the office to get on the internet. The children spotted us and one was dancing outside the window. It is really entertaining. I am not sure if she is dancing to see herself in the mirror or if she is dancing for us. I tried to get it on camera, but she stopped before I could do it. 

Work is exhausting. I find myself tired frequently and I go to bed really early. I was even dozing off at work today. I need to investigate the local NGOs more in the next two weeks to give myself a better understanding of healthcare in Ghana and the role that medical NGOs play in the system. According to Eric, there is a national coalition. At the district level, there are 30 medical NGOs, including the Cheerful Hearts Foundation. At the national level, there are approximately 500, but even more want to register. There are numerous applications and forms at the national level that must be filled out to join the national coalition. Cheerful heats does public health activities like lectures on different diseases like malaria and typhoid. They also have free medical screenings when they have a medical team from the US to help them. I am interested in knowing what other NGOs do and whether the NGOs coordinate activities among themselves.