Kitwe is certainly a totally different vibe to Ndola. Although Ndola is the provincial captial it has a laid back airy, leafy feel. Kitwe is certainly a big urban town that has copper mining right at its heart. The day started as usual with a trip to the hospital. This is now called Kabwe District Hospital but formerly was known as Kitwe Mine Hospital. It was taken over by the government a fair few years ago now and things have certainly become a little more run down since then. It's a sizable hospital and interestingly the theatres and ICU are actually on the third floor - dependent on a lift. Only one of them was working when we got there (though we used the stairs!) I dread to think what happens when the second breaks down and people on trolleys need to be operated on....
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View from the window in theatre across to the copper mine
It is interesting to me on my travels around a few of these old mine hospitals that at some stage they had access to a far larger spread of drugs that most which include muscle relaxants that have a fast or medium offset such as Vecuronium or Atracurium instead of Pancuronium which is universally found in Zambia. Some of them even had Ephedrine ( drug used for increasing low blood pressure - used like water in the UK but restricted here due to a misguided assumption that it is a drug of abuse). You can see that they previously also had decent equipment.
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Previously modern monitor - now more antiquated than my TV at home
which has among other things been called retro! |
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| The once decent theatre table is now full of rust |
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| They even had oxygen in pipes not just in cylinders so that you can plug the pipes into the main supply so to speak.... Well they worked in the past! Now they are reliant on cylinders as the pipelines are so old and unmaintained they leak too much and the pressure is too low! |
I got very excited as we passed by a room and saw an image intensifier (basically an x-ray machine - in the shape of a C that can be used during operations to help check and set fractures better and quicker), However on further enquiry it was broken. The anaesthetist though was pleased I'd noticed it as it was being stored (?why) in the third anaesthetic theatre. The picture below depicts what I saw. As I looked closer I could see the blue mattress cover on the thetare bed and under the window was an antiquated machine. There was no oxygen cylinder or monitoring. I enquired as to really what happened in there - he told me proudly that they carried out all the fracture re-alignments there under ketamine. I tried not to be rude when I enquire again HOW exactly they oxygenate and monitor their patients if there is no monitor and there is no cylinder. Ah, well there is no need for oxygen they are quick procedures and anyway the machine is broken so we just let them breathe on air. There hasn't been a problem yet. YET.....
Mufulira had a different feel to it - a far more relaxed affair and green! And basically less metalwork around! The hospital was set in some decent grounds and had the seemingly obligatory plastic safari animals to adorn the front entrances!
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| Ronald Ross with grazing zebra and fish eagle! |
However we didn't have much time to enjoy the peaceful surrounds as we were in a bit of a hurry! Looking at the map for the rest of the journey we realised we had two options once we finished here. We either turned around and drove back to Kapiri Mposhi to the branching off of the Great North Road and then travelling to Mansa - some 700km at least in the dark or we drive through the pedicle (this is the area of the Congo that seems to stretch in to Zambia rather inconveniently separating an easy passage to the North! I'd raised this as a possibility a few times during the preceeding weeks as there is a road that runs through it connecting both sides. It had been turned down with flat no's on every occasion with a scalding that it is not safe! Then it was a no because it wasnt safe for overseas nationals, then it was because we had a government number plate.... Anyway somehow, I'm not sure but I do think that the time of day and also the potential decrease in driving mileage added to the sudden safety u-turn! So it all hinged on the follow up timing. Luckily enough the anaesthetist at this hospital was super keen and bright and he sailed though the questionnaires and skills.
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| Resuscitation Muthani (renamed from the usual Annie) set up for skills on the bed in recovery at Ronald Ross |
We actually finished at 17.40. A quick bye and then we dashed (literally hurtled at 150kmph down dirt tracks) to make border control by 18.00. Made it with 2 mins to spare!The driver then gets out and does whatever he needs to do to get a pass. I'm under strict instructions not to get out and not to show my passport. That is uneccessary apparently as it would only serve to increase the cost of the crossing! So I didn't get out! A few minutes later the driver is back and the gates are opened and we head to the Congolese border control. They are even less interested and again I stay in the vehicle but take in all the French signs above the tiny restaurant huts in the dusk. And then we are through! In the Congo!! What a way to spend Friday night! Travelling illegally, with no exit or entry stamp in passport through Congo!
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| Douane/Customs at the border |
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| Vehicle permit for travel |
We then drive at high speed through the Congo - initially the road is long and well tarred. We are of course now driving on the right hand side of the road which feels odd after being on the left for a while in Zambia! This of course was too good to be true and soon descended into a red rubble road still under construction but was certainly firm enough that the foot on the pedal was still to the floor! It turns from dusk to dark night and the stars are very easy to see as there is no other lights around.
I did observe some villages before totaly darkness descended though. They seemed a little more poor than their Zambian counterparts but the houses were squarer and had bigger thatches. They all seemed to be built around termite mounds (of which there were hundreds - which is strange as I hadnt seenth at many in the Copper belt). Two hours later we get to the border and almost clear it until the guard spots a Muzyngo in the car and demands payment. he gets short, sharp shrift from the driver about this being a medical visit and we then pass on unhindered and cross a bridge that denotes our arrival back in Zambia! An exhilarating 2 hour trip through the Congo for sure and somewhere I'd love to get back to and explore properly at some stage!
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| Congo road whilst it lasted and before night! |
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Congo road in 'full throttle'!
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