Kajaansi medical Centre is funded by the government, and its function is central to the community of Kajaansi. On the premises it provides essential care and services such as: a dental office, HIV/AIDS testing, a pharmacy, a nurse’s office, in-patient clinic and a labour clinic for the deliveries of new born babies.
I only visited the medical centre once, but the circumstances which I discovered there were quite startling. Thirty minutes before any department had opened, long queues of people were forming and by the time 9am had arrived, the facility was overcrowded with people looking to be treated. With a serious lack of staff and not a single medical Doctor on site, issues arise at the centre on a regular basis.
I met with fellow volunteer and pharmacist Nick Ornella and he educated me on some of the prominent issues in such a facility. He explained how problems like: a lack of medicine, not knowing when the next delivery of supplies are coming, limited qualified staff and very little organisation plague daily life at the medical centre. Check out the videos!