so i'm in india right now!!!!!

many thanks for all the comments - i'll post up photos when i get back! nothing much yet, sadly.

we're in a small rural hospital that has 75 doctors. it's a non teaching hospital but there's a tonne of nursing students cos it has a nursing school. the nurses here actually wear white caps and it's just adorable! the students wear short white coats and white punjabi suits, the staff nurses wear white saris and generally look gorgeously dignified. their saris never seem to stain or get dirty!

the heat is amazing and i'm suffocating, it's about 38 degrees C here and only bound to get hotter as the days pass. the fan in my room isn't much use, it beats hot air around the place. yikes. mosquitoes and flies abound in plenty! i keep swatting flies in hope they'll stop coming near me, but i guess i should give up soon. heh.

the outpatient load is incredible. there's people queuing up at 7 am in the morning!
i'm doing O&G right now and it's pretty much the same as back home, but my friends doing paeds and medicine have been wowed by the spectrum of patients they've seen! most of them present in the late stages so it's usually florid presentations.
rheumatic heart disease is prevalent - all sorts of murmurs come into play
dysmorphic syndromes is another one

the list goes on - there is much to be said for the lack of sterility here, but they manage.
gloves are rewashed, masks are washable, not disposable, they dont' wash their hands with chlorhex/alcohol handrubs!
i'm getting pretty good at eating with my hands though! :D the canteen ladies have been so super sweet, they ply us with extra stuff cos they know we're foreign.
i've taken to wearing the punjabi suits as it's so super hot!
alright back to the labour ward!