Jungle Medicine

What do you do when you get sick in the jungle? Many villages in Papua New Guinea have aid posts, which are basic medical facilities that can treat minor infirmities and give malaria tests. Cities have hospitals and specialty medical facilities, but many people have to walk or PMV (the public transportation system) to the nearest aid post or hospital.

In Ukarumpa, we have a clinic that treats both nationals and expatriates. The availability of doctors depends on furlough schedules and who the branch is able to recruit. Currently we have four general health doctors, a few nurses, a physical therapist, and a dentist. When we first arrived in Ukarumpa, we were unable to make dentist appointments because one of the dental tools was broken, and we had to wait for a new one to be sent up from the capital.

Ukarumpa Clinic

At the clinic, there is also a pharmacy that supplies our malaria medication and prescription medications, and there is a lab where we can have blood work done. Unlike my visit to a doctor in Madang (the coastal city where we did our training), going to the clinic in Ukarumpa is pretty similar to going to the doctor in the States. A ride in the “ambulance” would be a bit different though! (See photo of the ambulance below.) We also have planes that are equipped to transport people to Cairns, Australia in the event of a medical emergency or a condition that cannot be adequately treated in our facilities. Everyone in Ukarumpa is required to have medevac insurance to cover the cost of the flight if a medevac is necessary.

On weekends, a doctor is on-call for conditions that can’t wait until Monday. We haven’t had to utilize the on-call doctor yet, but we did have to call the on-call maintenance man one Sunday for a blown fuse that we had no replacement for!