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Show The practice of medicine became more and more difficult as the year advanced because of the conjunction of two unfortunare facts, the increasing poverty of the population and the tremendous rise in the cost of medicines. The summer was almost rainless so crops were worse than other years, and they have never been good in this part of the country; a famine was already feared when the flood came and made the need, distress, and despair of the people perfect. Banditry developed more than in other years and made the situation still worse. Our charge per day in the Hospital was seventy cents, which means about four cents U.S.A. currency, but only a very few of the five million people which are living in the district that our Hospital serves can pay even this small amount and we had to grant financial aid more than ever before. The increase in the cost of medicines gave us sleepless nights. It is impossible to charge more than six to eight dollars (Chinese) for a major operation but one ampoule of the anesthetic, sodium evipan, costs twelve dollars and one pound of ether eleven dollars. It is not easy to be a doctor here, but I for my part am indeed glad not to be the Business Manager. The possibility of good treatment and cure suffers a great deal because of these conditions. Patients, not inclined to consult a foreign doctor, wait and hesitate as long as possible to save money and when they finally do come, it is in many cases too late for help. A man with a tumor on his leg comes only when the tumor is so big that he can no longer walk. It is sometime unbelievable what we get in the line of tumors on the extremities or even in the - 15 - |
