Typical Monday morning in Hospital

There are usually a lot of people about in Stung Treng hospital on a Monday morning.
Basically for treatment in the hospital the patient has to pay before they go home. The exception to this is if they are very poor and have a card signed by their Commune chief ( I think) to say that they are from a poor family and cannot afford to pay. The system is means tested and questions such things as :do you have a metal roof on your house?; do you have walls on your house?; how many Buffallo do you own? If you own a buffallo forget the card - you pay.
Anyway, because the Admin staff do not work at the weekend nobody is allowed to go home and they have to wait in the hospital until Monday morning - the first chance to pay for your treatment.

 

No more beds on the ward so the Women with newborn babies lie on the floor in the reception area.

 

This Monday morning I was called to the Maternity unit with Angela as there were 29 Women with new babies and no water in the toilets ie no means of washing etc. The reception area looked like a temporary disaster relief area with women, babies and visitors lying on the floor.

 

Inside the main entrance door a new mother and her family wait to go home.

 

 

This area a few weeks ago was regularly flooded as water leaked out of the walls. I have been able to stop this hence the people can lie on the floors but I have so far been unable to find the leak, the pipes are buried in concrete walls.

 

 

 

So why had the water been turned off?

He who shall remain nameless had turned off the water to the bathrooms as one washbasin had been blocked again by , yes you've guessed it, rice.

We turned the water back on and showed the Cleaner for this area how to unblock the washbasins, but more inportantly, provided a new plunger and sieve for her to do the job on a regular basis as the need arises.

10 am we usually go for a coffee over the road from the main exit and watch the new mums go home on the back of a motorbike.

So, father driving the bike then all the equipment they used for the stay including rolled up mat to lie on, then mother sits on side saddle holding the new born baby in her arms,off they go into the mid- morning chaos of the market traffic.Oh! I hope they paid first - otherwise they are classified by the Management as having escaped!