First world hospitals are filled with the latest technology, and these hospitals abound in every major city, and most mid-size to small towns as well. Cabinets and shelves abound with hundreds of kinds of medicine, and daily supply shipments arrive to keep them stocked for any emergency that might arise.
Sadly the same is not true in emerging nations. In fact, in countries like Malawi it is just the opposite. Hospitals have little in the way of working equipment, and less in supplies. There are far more patients than beds, crowds fill the hallways, medicine not available, and un-necessary death is a common, almost everyday occurrence. On a recent trip to Malawi, Mike Ferris, a member of the Board of Directors for the Malawi Project posted this report.
“We entered the pediatrics ward and the mothers and fathers there were so eager to see us. Unfortunately, it was so crowded; there were three patients to a bed. The head nurse asked me to make my way through the ward and greet the families, as it would lift their spirits. So I began making my way around the ward. After greeting most of the children and their parents, playing hand patting games with some, talking to all the parents, it was then, the head nurse came up to me in a soft voice in my ear and said, “the little girl in the corner bed just died. Will you go over to the parents and comfort them?” Life and breath left my body for a moment as I gazed up and into the corner. There she was, no more than 3-4 years old. Her name was Maggie. Her shocked mother and father standing by her side. At that moment, I could hear nothing, and see nothing but the three of them. I made my way over to them while Maggie’s mother just stared at me as if to say, “Please, come and tell me this isn’t real, this isn’t happening.” I approached the bedside as both parents had made a space wanting me to stand there with them. “Perhaps something this Asungu could do could raise my baby from the dead.” How I would have just wanted, like Jesus, to tell them, your baby is not dead, she’s just asleep! But I could not. Every ounce of energy left my body and the only thing I could do was ask them if I could pray with them. Of course this is what they wanted, they had heard I was a minister from America. I could not even stand, I fell to my knees fighting the tears back as hard as I could, and took both of them by the hand, and we began to pray. We prayed for God’s peace, God’s comfort, God understanding. It is an experience I will never forget. And to think, so many of these deaths are preventable with just the right resources. It was explained that this young lady had Malaria. However, there was no testing to verify the diagnosis, no testing to see if there were other issues, nothing done. In a world with the technology our world has, this is not acceptable.”