Crossing the Mekong to a village Health Clinic

Finally we got a glimpse of what we really came to Cambodia for – the Countries Maternity Service, or at least a village health clinic which refers into the main Stung Treng Hospital.

At 7.30am, Chris and I met Luisa our VSO host for the week and Sithon her assistant/interpreter,(VA) down by the jetty for a short ferry ride across the Mekong River.

Getting onto the ferry involves walking the plank which is OK but how I will every ride a motorbike across the plank as the locals do without flinching I really don’t know. People, motor bikes, livestock, produce for sale, everything gets put on the same ferry again without any fuss or bother.

View from our seat on the ferry

Getting off the ferry

A short walk from where the ferry unloads is the Health Clinic. Outside the clinic is a diagram illustrating various ailments which presumable you can attend the clinic with.

''I'm sure I've got some of those problems Angela!''

Photo shows the clinic –on the left is the labour ward, then a couple of consulting rooms, a two bedded ward , the parentcraft/waiting room and the dispensary is far right.

The labour ward has only one bed but has a lovely view out of the window.

It also has a sink with running water and a clean delivery trolley. They have a new bag and mask for neonatal resuscitation which they have all recently had training with thanks to a national Initiative called ‘Breathe Easy’.

The clinic sterilises its own instruments using this autoclave –how spoilt I have been with HSSD and disposable instruments! I would need careful instructions to use this without it exploding.

It was great to meet some of the staff. The director of the clinic was very welcoming and the three midwives in their pink uniforms were very friendly. They are all ‘Primary’ midwives who have had a basic one year training fairly recently I think.

The clinic currently only has about 3 or 4 women a month giving birth here but they are trying to encourage more to attend instead of giving birth at home with an untrained T.B.A.(traditional birth attendant) or just relatives.

In the parent craft room a village class of women were discussing child care, including the benefits of ‘skin to skin’ (mother to baby) immediately after birth in promoting exclusive breast feeding. The breast feeding rates are quite high, health workers are promoting exclusive breast feeding for 6 months in line with W.H.O. recommendations.

All in all, a fascinating visit.

After sampling various Khmer puddings at a stall in the village (my favourite looked like beans in syrup with chilled coconut cream) we headed back to the ferry.

This time we shared the ferry with twenty large bags of stone but it didn’t sink!

Photo shows bags of stones. Also see the engine which the Captain stands above in order to view the river ahead of the boat along the top of the cabin roof. He therefore needs to steer  the boat with his foot  on the Tiller –the throttle is attached to a piece of string in his hand –simple but very effective. The engine was similar to one you might find in a bus but this one only had about a foot of exhaust pipe so was quite noisy.

We also noted that Whoopi Goldbergh was collecting the fares wearing a traditional Khmer women’s hat and face mask –to prevent skin from tanning and filter air to breathe.

Returning along the Jetty to Stung Treng town