not for the faint hearted…

Our Social Worker took me into the NICU today (Friday), to meet a 2-day old little boy.  His parents were from ‘the country’ where ante-natal care was virtually non-existent.   They think she may have caught some sort of infection from a cat or dog at some point during her pregnancy.  When she got into labour she took herself into her nearest hospital, I don’t know how long that journey was, but it would have been measured in hours.  They referred her on to the public hospital in Cap-Haitien, the city an hour away from us.  Though for her that would be nearly 3 hours.  That hospital then referred her to us, so another uncomfortable journey.  After assessment a Caesarean Section was performed.  Mother was doing well, baby not so.  He had hydrocephalus, and it looked severe; even to me.

The Social Worker asked me in as the parents did not have money for treatment, could we help.  The answer is normally ‘yes’, we have a fund to support the needy.  But this was going to be complicated.  We don’t have the equipment or the surgeons to intervene and we don’t have the funds to pay for treatment elsewhere.  For the moment treatment was passive.

Later, I went back to NICU with our Medical Director, who is also a Paediatrician.  He was very worried.  He had contacts in the capital Port-au-Prince, but they were mainly private facilities, and although we could help with the bills in our own hospital, not in another.  There was one facility that had a programme for the needy, and so he put a call in.  But even if they could accept the little fella, he was currently too ill to travel.  It would be a long weekend.

Monday came and it was mixed news, mostly bad.  Over the weekend, the hospital agreed to take the baby pro-bono.  But then one of their doctors had been kidnapped, and the hospital had closed, pending his release.  In worse news, overcome by the consequences of his new son’s condition and with no financial means, he has abandoned the child at the hospital.

Tuesday came with better news, the hospital in Port-au-Prince that had agreed to take little Figaro had reopened and was ready to receive him.  The hospital was now making plans to transfer him.

But all that all came to a stop in the afternoon though when he lost his fight for life… was pretty much helpless, tough to watch…