If you want to know why the American occupation of Iraq was such a disaster, you need look no further than the story of the former Saddam Hussein Central Children's Hospital in Baghdad. When I first saw the hospital in 2004, it was beyond belief. There was sewage dripping from the roof of the premature babies' ward, leaking from pipes above, spattering down to the floor between the cots, where it gathered in foul stinking puddles. Downstairs in the leukaemia ward, the toilets had … [Read more...]
The Healthcare Debate…and what we could learn from a Hospital in rural India
March 23, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Watching the anguish and fury in Britain at changes to the National Health Service this week, I couldnt help but think of a hospital I visited in south India once. When it comes to healthcare, you don't tend to think of India as a model. Government hospitals are notoriously poor. A friend of mine nearly died recently because the doctors failed to diagnose appendicitis -- until it burst. But Aravind Eye Care is different. With just eight hospitals, it performs more than half as many … [Read more...]
