Getting ready for the internship (June 23)

As a part of the trip, all of us get to do 3 day internship at the place of our interest. I'm doing mine with Rohini at Centre de Sante de Ouakam, which is a public health center in Ouakam neighborhood. (FYI, Ouakam is the neighborhood in which African Renaissance Monument is located) Our internship starts next monday, but we get to go to the center today to get an idea of what to expect and to meet the person who will be in charge of us. Before going to center, Rohini and I got together to brainstorm what to ask and what to find out while we were there. This is the list we came up with:

·         Health care system compared to the states

·         # of patients/day

·         Is the doctor necessary for the Rx drugs?

·         Cost, consultation fee, and insurance coverage

·         The difference between the role of doctors and nurses

·         The role of religion within the health care system

·         Herbal/natural/traditional medicine vs. Western medicine

·         Traditional healing vs. conventional healing

·         The relationship between pharmacy and hospital

·         Doctor to patient ratio

·         The condition of the health center

·         Patient’s involvement and patient’s access to self-care

·         Social aspect of the health center

·         Regular check-up and physical exam

·         Prenatal service

I'm not sure if I can get all the questions answered but I'm just hoping for the best!

I was surprised to see how far the health center was from WARC. Apparently, it was right by the African Renaissance Monument. The health center was painted in light green and white and it was cleaner than I thought it would be. I thought it would be very busy at 3pm but there were not that many patients at the time. The condition and the layout of the health center were very similar to the ones in the states and had most of the machines/devices that you could see in the states. I guess I was expecting much worse which was really foolish and arrogant to even think/judge that way just because the country isn't developed as the states. I guess I have to get rid of all my arrogant thoughts before coming back on Monday to start my internship and get the best out of it.

Rx drop-off window

Lab