On Saturday we toured a regional, or level 2, hospital, Santa Rosa. This gave a good picture of what the healthcare system is like in Peru. Their government insurance covers all children, and 140 diseases for adults. One of the doctors we talked to explained that the main problem is that the hospital, under government insurance, cannot afford enough medications to treat the patients. This causes patients to have to seek care at the level 1 hospital in Lima. Many patients cannot afford to travel this far, especially if treatments require several visits. Many patients we observed were "waiting" for the means to get to Lima to start getting better. It was very sad. An interesting fact-their insurance covers funeral costs, however this is changing in July. I was shocked to observe that their ICU only has four beds! Additionally, there was a lot less attention to infection control. Our entire group walked into the NICU without having to even wash our hands! Above, is a picture of a C-section baby, Leah helped assess right after birth and the other photo is a newborn we saw in the NICU [so precious!]
We were all very sad this weekend due to some new friends leaving us. We became really close with the St. John's group that was here from OK. It already feels empty without them, but we plan to keep in touch :)
On Saturday we toured a regional, or level 2, hospital, Santa Rosa. This gave a good picture of what the healthcare system is like in Peru. Their government insurance covers all children, and 140 diseases for adults. One of the doctors we talked to explained that the main problem is that the hospital, under government insurance, cannot afford enough medications to treat the patients. This causes patients to have to seek care at the level 1 hospital in Lima. Many patients cannot afford to travel this far, especially if treatments require several visits. Many patients we observed were "waiting" for the means to get to Lima to start getting better. It was very sad. An interesting fact-their insurance covers funeral costs, however this is changing in July. I was shocked to observe that their ICU only has four beds! Additionally, there was a lot less attention to infection control. Our entire group walked into the NICU without having to even wash our hands! Above, is a picture of a C-section baby, Leah helped assess right after birth and the other photo is a newborn we saw in the NICU [so precious!]
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