American pediatrician brings hope to Afghanistan's poor and sick
Volunteer Dr. Albert Chan encounters Afghan doctors eager to learn new skills
(PORTLAND, ORE. - August 10, 2007) As Presidents George Bush and Hamid Karzai address Afghanistan's increasing instability, a San Francisco-based pediatrician returned home this week with stories of collaboration and hope in this war-torn country.
Dr. Albert Chan, a clinical instructor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, treated dozens of children at CURE Hospital in Kabul, serving as a volunteer with Medical Teams International. The hospital is one of only a handful of healthcare facilities serving a population of nearly 3 million people.
Medical workers lack critically needed medicines, equipment and recent education. Chan, however, found Afghan medical providers excited for the training he provided.
"Wars have created a void where an entire generation of physicians in Afghanistan has lost skills," says Chan. "The residents are very bright, but because their medical training has not been updated, patient care has suffered."
Often, Afghan children suffer the most.
"Most people here are struggling to survive. It's a bit shocking to see people dying from relatively uncomplicated illnessesbut the infrastructure and poverty are so bad things get out of hand before they see a doctor," Chan says. "There were children whom I wanted to admit for weeks of malnutrition therapy, but I couldn't because the parents had no childcare for their other children."
Patients travel for hundreds of miles to Kabul to reach the only hospitals available.
"I worry most about the patients traveling in overcrowded buses or on the tops of cargo trucks. They sleep in the bombed out remains of buildings around town while they wait to see a doctor," Chan adds.
Dr. Chan volunteered in Afghanistan with Medical Teams International (MTI), a faith-based humanitarian aid agency headquartered in Portland, Ore. MTI began working in Afghanistan in November 2001, when it sent medical volunteers to care for families fleeing the Taliban. MTI provides specialized healthcare training unavailable to Afghan medical providers. Medical Teams International has sent more than $3.9 million in medical supplies to Afghanistan. For more information about Medical Teams International and its work in the region, please visit the Web site, www.medicalteams.org.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
