Dysentery (1995)

Excerpt from the draft of “Apostle to the Pygmies – The Doctor Jerry Galloway Story”

The hospital was thankful to receive 50 boxes of medicine from a charitable foundation in Belgium. We received 120 liters of IV fluids, which were much needed, as the dysentery epidemic depleted the stock. New dysentery patients continued to arrive each day. I visited them in the afternoons and helped the mothers give young children oral rehydration solutions. Some children refused to drink the liquid because it tasted salty.

Many children did not have clothes, and the rags they wore were so soiled they were in shreds. I took new shorts and shirts to them, and it brought smiles to their anguished faces. The doctors and nurses did not have gowns and gloves to protect against contagious diseases, because they were too expensive. The medical gowns and gloves were used solely in the operating room.

I was not worried about getting infected. The best prevention was the continuous washing of one's hands after caring for the patients. Friday was a holiday, so the cleaning man did not work. I took a mop and went to the Botoa ward and cleaned it with a disinfectant solution.