Padang Mission part 1....

Okie, I admit, I'm a bit overly stressed after coming back from Padang with a million and one things to do. So I'm just going to cut paste my daily writings for MRA just for the benefit of my readers. Have fun.

MRA 8TH GROUP PROGRESS REPORT

14TH NOVEMBER 2009

We were assembled at LCCT airport at around 12.30pm. Checking-in and money changing were swift as we sat in Marry Brown receiving our briefing from Ms. Diyana and soon after. Mr Shahdan came by for final instructions of our mission. It was the last call for our flight as we made our way through the boarding. There was a sense of uncertainty and excitement as we sat in our seats. It was a smooth take off, the pilot was excellent. The flight to Padang was a quick one, but the view from the sky was breath-taking. Landing was superb also, swift and graceful.

Our arrival at the airport was greeted warmly by Haji Hani and Pak Yus. We made a quick pit stop to Padang town to buy some medicinal supplies. The environment was so different from the usual metropolitan KL scene that I was use to. What caught my eye was house simple the pharmacies appeared, somewhat equivalent to our traditional herb stalls in KL? After buying the supplies, we had our first taste of Nasi Padang at a nice restaurant called Lamun Ombak. It was a nice change from our normal diet at home.

We arrived at the MRA secretariat located in Jati, Pariaman. It was a single storey bungalow already rented for a year under MRA. I would say it was quite neat with all the facilities. After a short briefing, we decided to do the first most important thing – rearrange our medicine stock and prepare our boxes.

15 NOVEMBER 2009

The one hour time difference messed up our clocks but luckily since Malaysia is earlier by one hour, we were actually overly punctual. Breakfast was simple bread and jam from bread bought earlier in Padang when we landed. The journey to our clinic site was a long one. It was situated in the region of Agam, north of Pariaman called South Melalak – a small village called Talago. Talago suffered a great impact during the earth quake where 7 houses were buried under heaps of land. A lot of houses were damaged and few died.
We arrived around 9.30 am and set camp at the Talago Mosque. Dewan Dakwah Islamiyah Indonesia led by Uztaz Jamal was there too and they gave the ‘tazkirah’ for the people. Our clinic was a success despite the heavy downpour and the mini flood that occurred at our impromptu pharmacy. We treated 60 patients altogether with the main complaints of rheumatism and back pain. Before leaving, we scoured the small settlement to take a look at the remains of the landslide that occurred during the earth quake. Lunch was again Nasi Padang, at a nice small restaurant above a pond. On our way back, we dropped by to see the house that MRA built to help the people. Afterwards, we stopped by the market to stock on supplies. Dinner was simple fried rice courtesy of Azmee.

16 NOVEMBER 2009

It was only the 3rd day, yet everyone agreed that we were quite fed up of Nasi Padang. I whipped up some fried beehoon for breakfast from the items we brought from the market the day before. Today, we visited Sungai Rambai where we were greeted by the head of the village. We were given the community hall to be used as our clinic. It was a really hot day and there wasn’t any good ventilation in the hall. Luckily the toilet was quite decent. The clinic started at about 10 am and we found ourselves soon surrounded by locals of many ages. We saw 95 patients altogether, but ironically the main complaint was hypertension. Haji Hani wasn’t feeling so well, and I being surrounded in a small, stuffy area started to have a massive headache tending to patients that had difficulty understanding what I was trying to say. Luckily, we stopped the registrations, and Haji seeing me struggling to cope with the load came to help. I got up from my seat, feeling very woozy and giddy, sweating away in the hot stuffy room with traces of tobacco smell from the smoking male patients. I dashed to the toilet where I threw up, instantly feeling a lot better. I washed my face and quickly resumed my duties. My team was worried because I looked so pale. Luckily, we managed to finish around 2 pm. Lunch was Nasi Padang again, but the nice change that it was by the seaside, and I welcomed the reassuring breeze. We got home and I rested most the afternoon away. Haji Hani himself was unwell and I prescribed him some medication and antibiotics. That night, we went to a nearby pharmacy to stock up on LMS and eye drops. We stopped by a mini market where I found some instant Cappuccino. Dinner was bakso from a nearby stall. With coffee in my system, my headache started to clear and I was more energetic than ever. It was caffeine withdrawal syndrome after all. Well at least I found a cure early. That night we had an unexpected guest. A man fell off his motorcycle after hitting a hole on the dark road. He sustained abrasions over the right side of his face, arm and knee. We dressed him and gave him some medications and sent him on his way.

MRA GROUP 8 PROGRESS REPORT PART 2

17 NOVEMBER 2009

It was only Tuesday, but we felt that we have been here for quite awhile. We were getting use to the time difference especially the different praying times. We had sardine sandwiches for breakfast, and I had my dose of instant Cappuccino to start the day. By 8am, we were all good and ready to go, but Haji Hani decided to stay home since he was still feeling a bit under the weather. It was quite a surprise since I doubt before this he ever stood up any program. Given the task to lead the team, we headed out to our next destination - Tangah Sukur. On the way, we stopped by a wholesale dealer shop which actually belonged to Pak Yas’s (our driver) brother. We stocked on mineral water and I found a whole pack of instant cappuccino and mini chocolate tiger biscuits to add to our supply.

Tangah Sukur was a nearby village which took around half an hour to reach from our residence. We were placed in front of the mosque on a nice patio of an abandoned home damaged during the earth quake. The people of Tangah Sukur were very friendly and we treated 83 patients altogether with main complaints of hypertension and fungal infections. In view that we had just one big bottle of albendazole syrup, we decided to have a small worm campaign where the kids are given the dose of albendazole on the spot. After a lot of laughs, we took pictures with the locals. Most of the locals were pretty familiar with Malaysia, having relatives here. They even have interesting pets, and one of them actually showed her baby foxes. It was common for the locals to adopt these foxes as they can be domesticated and used to find good coffee beans. Yes, these were the foxes that eat the good coffee fruit and the locals gather the beans from their droppings. It is said that these beans produce the best coffee in the world, but despite being an avid coffee addict, I guess I was more grossed out with the thought of the beans extracted from fox droppings. Eww…

Lunch was again Nasi Padang situated by the beach. Despite the lovely scenery, all of us were quite fed up of the same type of dishes everyday. Azmee refused to eat except for some fish fritters that looked like ‘tempeyek’. Shahril, on the other hand, was craving for some tom yam. It was time to make a few changes; I don’t think I can survive eating the same menu day in, day out. Before we reached home, I told Pak Yas that we needed to go shopping. We headed for Pariaman market where we bought chicken, fish, prawns and squid. We tried looking for things like Tom Yam paste or curry powder, or even tumeric powder but apparently it was non-existent. We were forced to make do with whatever that was there but to me, this is where the fun is, creating food from basics. We then headed to the nearby pharmacy to stock on eye drops and LMS cream. When we reached home, Haji Hani was already feeling better. He then decided to take us to a nice place that made praying clothes for women. (Personal Note : For those coming – this is a must go place).
That night, we decided to cook for a change. We surprised Haji Hani by whipping up seafood tom yam and Fried Sambal Chilli Kerisi with omelette. Now at least the food feels more like home.

18 NOVEMBER 2009

It was our 5th day in Padang, and today we made nasi lemak for breakfast. Haji Hani was so happy, he grinned from ear to ear to get Malaysian nasi lemak for breakfast. We even packed some for lunch. We were scheduled to go to Sikabu at Lubuk Akap. The journey was a short one, less than half an hour.

We set camp in front of a fertilizer store situated at the main junction of the village. The villagers were excited to see us and many came despite the earlier rain. Altogether we treated 151 patients (actually a bit more but some of our papers went missing and some didn’t register). The main problem was symptomatic anaemia which I presumed mainly due to worm infestation since most of the people there were farmers and they walked around barefoot most of the time. It was like election come early and we were overwhelmed by the crowd. There was one boy who had a right lower thigh abscess. We advised him to go to the hospital but he refused. Finally, the father agreed to take him to our residence for an I&D. Towards the end, there was one patient who required a home visit.

I went with Haji Hani and Pak Yus to the old man’s house. The house was partly damaged from the earthquake. The wife was very happy that we came; previously she was one of our patients. She wanted to know what was wrong with her husband. Clinical examination revealed an old man with complete right hemiplegia and hypereflexia, with lower cranial nerves dysfunction. His blood pressure was 220/110 mmHg. There was no murmur heard. We advised the family to take him to a hospital for a better evaluation as we believe he may have suffered a stroke over the left side, but the family was more worried about who to care for him in the hospital as all the children were working outside of Padang, and the wife is too old. I left them with advice on stroke care at home and the wife gave us 3 durians to bring home.

We stopped by lunch at a nearby Nasi Padang stall. Nasi lemak and avocado juice does blend well apparently. After lunch, we made a quick stop to a mattress wholeseller and then went to look for some fabric with nice embroideries. I guess Pak Yas misunderstood what we wanted because he brought us to a shop selling wedding clothes. It was okay though, at least we had a nice look at the traditional clothes and items used for a wedding ceremony. The wedding ceremonies held here are very colourful with yellow and red being a must. The groom would normally be seen paraded by the roadside towards the bride’s house. It would be interesting to actually attend one.

We went home exhausted and most of us slept. I got up to wait for the boy with the right thigh abscess to come. While waiting, there was a loud commotion outside. A man was brought in to our residence with sustained superficial lacerations from his head actively bleeding. Initially we thought that he was a motorcyclist being hit by a car. But after further questioning, it turns out the car only sustained minor damages, but the drivers ended up fighting each other. The assailant hit the victim with some metal object which appeared to be blunt, as the lacerations were not as deep. There were 3 superficial lacerations altogether ranging from 0.5 cm to 2 cm. Unfortunately, we did not have any ATT to jab him in case of tetanus, nor did we have any sutures left to stitch up the lacerations. Luckily, the bleeding stopped as we were rinsing the wound so it was suffice to just cover it. I still wish we had some sutures. Despite the wounds would definitely heal, but I felt like we could have done a better job. We covered him with antibiotics, gave him some pain killers and advised daily dressing at any nearby health facility. The assailant sustained minor cuts and bruises. Did I mention there was a crowd and the police was there too? It felt like a scene from a drama.

Afterwards, we packed our things and ate magi mee for dinner.

To be continued………