Vanaja - Traumatic cataract

Hi all - Sorry that the images are not very clear. Vanaja had a traumatic catarct following a stick injury. The image below represents that.

Here she is post op - dark glasses and all. The parents being emotional and greatful to what has been achieved - all for the princely sum of Rs 1500.00 only.

June and July 2007

We reopened the Health centre on 01 June, after a 4 week break. In the interim we had got some renovations done, added a couple of rooms, a day care centre and worked at streamlining the patient flow. Luckily for us, the patient number started small initially - around a 100 per dya, giving us time to shakedown and sort out the teething troubles.

Statistics:

June 2007:
Patients: 1133
Eye patients: 76
Cataracts Operated: 3

July 2007:
Patients: 1799
Eye patients: 103
Cataracts Operated: 11

By the 2nd week of July we were upto speed seeing 130 - 150 patients on teh outpatient days.
There were the usual mix of cases with Pulmonary infections and Viral fevers predominating in the cold damp weather - yes we have had some rain and it is wonderful to see the fields full of groundnuts growing well. We hope that the rains continue, the tanks fill up and that the crops are good this kahrif season.

Ramalinga Reddy - An Update

Reference to my earlier blog on "TB - two sides of a coin"
We had great hopes that Ramalinga Reddy would make a good recovery - after all he was in the best of hands - being admitted to St Johns Medical College on 21 Jun 2007.
Unfortunately that was not to be.
A week after extraperitoneal drainage of the Psoas Abscess he started passing fecal material from the wound. A laparotomy was done and an Ileo-Caecal Perforation was found. Following resection and closure he started recovering. However on the 3rd post op day he threw a convulsion and was admitted to the ICU. His condition continued to deteriorate and he was intubated, put on aventilator and finally a tracheostomy done on 08July 2007. In spite of the best possible care he did not make it. His relatives decided to tke him home and he was discharged against medical advice on 11 July 2007. He died at home on 12 July 2007.
Cause of death - we can only surmise - poor wound management at home when he put leaves and lime etc in the wound, general malnutrition leaving the body in no condition to fight the overwhelming infection, and of course the dreaded word - POVERTY.
I have no idea what the finl bill would be. Since we supported him we are bound to get a whopping bill. Will anyone in the wide world help?