Sunday 22 November 2015

Mercy Ships Patient Transport

Mercy Ships first docked in Toamasina in October 2014 and treated patients from the same town and other large towns around Madagascar that have reasonably good roads connecting them to Toamasina.

This year, MAF have been flying the screening team into more remote areas where it is much more difficult for the patients to make their own way to the ship. One such place is Bekodoka, in the North West, from where we picked up some patients in October and flew them to Toamasina for treatment.

Bekodoka airstrip (bottom left) and village (middle)
Earlier this month, two of the patients (Christine and Jean) had finished their treatment and so my flight on this occasion was to take them back home. When I arrived they were looking through a portfolio of photos that Mercy Ship gives to each person covering the time they have spent on the ship. This particular one also included their MAF flight which had not been a pleasant experience for Christine, who had been sick for most of it.

On board the aircraft, staff gave Jean (who had a large hernia removed) some final instructions, relayed via a translator, forbidding him to work or carry out any physical activity for 6 weeks. To clarify the point, he must have seen the monthly MAF flight to Bekodoka come in twice before he could start work again, otherwise he would need another operation.

The flight went smoothly and both patients slept, the sick bag being held tightly in Christine's hand remaining unused. We were greeted by excited children from the village but a reunion with their families would have to wait a bit longer as the patients live in a smaller village, a two hour walk from the airstrip.

First children arriving, having run across the valley when they heard the plane

Jean and Christine

The patients were smiling a lot until I pointed the camera at them!