A whirlwind week and Nathan to arrive with no bags!

This week was purely work-related with little exciting to write home about, but none the less it was very important so far as my research is concerned.

Once I returned from Murchison, I settled in at Patrick's once again. It was lovely to see his girls again and spend a little time with his family. It was only a little time though, as I spent most days running around from 630am until 8pm conducting interviews.

Wednesday through Friday was the meeting of the College of Surgeons of Eastern, Southern and Central Africa (COSECSA). The meeting was held on the outskirts of town at a resort on Lake Victoria. It was a lavish hotel and conference center. The admission fee was 120$ for surgeons and 50$ for students. Attendance, in response, to me seemed low as this was much more than most attendees could afford. I didn't even get my whole 50$ worth, as I spent the days running around between hospitals, the Ministry of Health and a golf club, where I was to meet contact from Customs.

Speke Resort, the edge of the parking lot

Wednesday morning, the head of the orthopaedics department met me at 7am at Mulago. With one phone call he had me meeting the Commissioner of Clinical Services for Uganda in his office at the Ministry. I walked over, traded in my driver's license for an ID tag, and entered the gated Ministry of Health building. After waiting a mere half hour, he saw me. Like a true politician, he made the outlook for orthopaedic care seem rosy without actually telling me much of anything. He recommended I speak to his colleague,  the Commissioner of Disability and Rehabilitation Services. Since he wasn't in he would schedule me an appointment with him. Call him later he said.

Although it looks pretty swanky from the outside, and the lot is littered with unused Ministry of Health vehicles, the corridors inside remind me my first apartment. They are incredibly narrow, dark and have doors branching off the hallway every 3 feet or so. Everyone seems to have a secretary (wo)manning these doors, but I think they read more newspapers than perform any kind of valuable work.

I then ran back to meet Dr. Beyeza  for my ride to the conference. On arrival, Andrew, my Masters' supervisor from home met me. He was doing the examinations the days before. We quickly discussed whom I should accost at the meeting, and found more people than I could manage to interview. It was really nice speaking to all these orthopaedic surgeons who have made significant contributions to orthopaedic services in Africa. I spoke with doctors from Ethiopia, South Africa, Rwanda and Malawi, and others who had temporarily worked in a multitude of places around the globe. It was interesting to contrast experiences between countries, though I still couldn't tell you which country I would run to if I had a sudden orthopaedic emergency. The nice thing was the German working in Rwanda hooked me up with a colleague of his whom I can meet when in Kigali. We spoke yesterday and I will even get to visit the Kigali university hospital.

I returned to COSECSA the next day as well with the goal of meeting the industry reps. Within three hours I had interviewed 3 reps, attended some lectures on club feet, and gobbled down a lunch, so that I could make a suddenly scheduled meeting with the Commissioner of Disability and Rehab Services back downtown at 230pm. It turned out he and Dr. Beyeza went to primary school together and so he obliged a meeting. The other commissioner, despite many reminder phone calls from me, did not deliver on a meeting. My interview with the Disability Commissioner was more fruitful than the one with his colleague. He seemed sincerely aware of the issues with providing orthopaedic care and the reasons behind why these are difficult to rectify. He did not however, admit whether the government was actively pursuing their proposed bills and interventions or just tabling them every time they arise at Parliament.

While at the COSECSA meeting, I also learned of this NGO-funded hospital in Entebbe (near the Kampala airport) which focuses on orthopaedics, plastics and rehabilitation called CoRSU (Comprehensive Rehabilitation Services Uganda). It is also a private non-profit institution. One call to administration at 5pm on Thursday and I secured myself permission to stop by today on my way to the airport to pick up Nate. I arrived at 230pm. People are so accommodating here. Within 30 minutes I had met the Administration Director and the head orthopaedic surgeon. Luckily he knew quite a few of the Toronto pediatric orthopods, including my supervisor, and so he agreed to speak with me. This Italian seems to have a good thing going here treating children with musculoskeletal deformities. It was refreshing to hear how some programs can run efficiently and successfully. Based on their new location and its construction however, they are clearly receiving adequate funds from the NGO and donors.

It almost looks like you're driving up to a Garden Inn in a mid-size upstate New York town.

As I sit at a golf club restaurant in Entebbe, which glamourously borders the shore of Lake Victoria, I am waiting to meet someone from the Ugandan Customs for an interview. I am also waiting for Nathan to finally arrive. He is delayed 2 hours. The weather in Europe has been worse than in Canada, and so his first flight was delayed forcing him to RUN for the next one. He luckily managed to get on, but he was told the bags will not. Unfortunately, we hadn't planned on sticking around the airport area for more than 30 hours before heading for hiking and gorilla tracking, so I am now unsure what will happen. The town East of Kampala is supposed to have good white water rafting, so maybe we will do that instead until the bags arrive.

I am not sure how much internet access I will have the next two weeks, as after tomorrow I will be depending on wireless access, but I will try and keep you posted on our travels. Thanks for having followed this far!

Take care and talk soon!
m