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bring their own linens for their beds and their own plastic sheet to
catch fluid released during childbirth.
The mothers, in fact, must bring a matching linen for themselves
and their newborn so that the hospital staff can identify which baby
belongs to which woman, McRay said.
While delivering babies or performing surgery, the room is often
brutally hot, and that’s not the only challenge. “We’re often swatting
mosquitoes as we try to operate,” McRay said.
McRay has never been present for a mother dying in childbirth
at JPS, but he has seen it happen multiple times at Mulago. Many
women deal with ruptures and infections of the uterus that take the
baby’s life and put their own in jeopardy.
But he’s witnessed happier moments there, too. He’s helped deliver
twins — even a set of triplets.
Once after arriving at the labor ward of JPS after returning from a
Mulago trip, McRay was overcome by a feeling of relief he said he’d
never experienced in the often-tense atmosphere of the hospital.
“I thought to myself, ‘No one is going to die tonight,’” McRay said.
McRay said although it’s neat to travel abroad and learn about other
countries and cultures, the point of doing it is to better appreciate
how most of the world lives and perhaps help in some way to make
life better for people who deal with extreme difficulties on a daily
basis.
“I want to know I came because I cared, not because someone
praised me for it,” he said.
Witnessing
births and deaths,
Fort Worth maternal-health
physician David McRay describes
medical outreach efforts in Uganda
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Harris College Magazine
- 2014 ·
13