TB Clinic in Badin District, Pakistan. Photo: Columban Pakistan Mission Unit
People from different places around and outside Badin District continue to come to our TB clinic every Friday. From 2021-2022 a total of 241 TB Patients were admitted. Most of them had completed their treatment, and some were still on their medication. Apart from TB patients, we had 1,217 Out Patients. These patients are suffering from different ailments. In some cases, the doctor had to refer them to big hospitals as far as Karachi City, where there are proper facilities suitable to treat their condition.
With this year’s high inflation, we are experiencing more out-patients coming. The staff in the clinic tries to accommodate them every Friday, but in some cases, we can only give what we can, especially when they come within the week when we don’t have our doctor.
There was a young patient recently with his parents who came from Jhudo, a far village outside Badin District. They arrived in the church compound late afternoon and were advised to go to the nearest government hospital, but unfortunately, the patient could not be admitted for lack of accommodation even though they waited the whole night. They came back to the church compound and ask if they could sleep in front of the school; at least they were safe, as they claimed. This kind of situation that we face from time to time is disheartening. We can’t blame the hospitals for their limitations. The reality is it is the situation that they are in.
The poor continue to remain or become poorer, especially with what is happening nowadays. We continue to thank our benefactors that we are able to continue extending help to these people who are deprived due to their social and economic situation.
Columban lay missionary Monalisa Esteban lives and works in Pakistan.
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