Limp to Lively!

A family from Gouri village, where the primary health care (PHC) clinic had been a few days earlier in Outreach #1, traveled to the clinic in Karati for their young daughter to be seen. This little girl was about 3 years old and presented with severe pneumonia, dehydration and was almost non-responsive. Our doctors worked quickly to put in a drip to get fluids in the child and she was given antibiotics by injection. The family stayed all day in the clinic so the child could be observed. To help, we arranged accommodation for them in the village overnight.
The family came in first thing the following morning so Dr. Verity could check on her….and she looked like a different child! She was smiling and full of life. Where she had been terrified of any of us the previous day, today she was full of smiles and eager to play. I (JP) went to say hello to her, and the little girl immediately gave me a playful whack! If this young girl’s family hadn’t made the trip to see us in our land-based PHC clinic, the outcome for this little girl may have been fatal.The family came in first thing the following morning so Dr. Verity could check on her….and she looked like a different child! She was smiling and full of life. Where she had been terrified of any of us the previous day, today she was full of smiles and eager to play. I (JP) went to say hello to her, and the little girl immediately gave me a playful whack! If this young girl’s family hadn’t made the trip to see us in our land-based PHC clinic, the outcome for this little girl may have been fatal.