It’s quite mind blowing how we take a lot of things for granted and think…or rather not think that it could be a big deal for someone somewhere. Come to think of it, if something has already been deemed worthy of being taken for granted then who would have a minute to think of the same and how it might affect someone somewhere. I think if our thoughts would only reach as far as…somewhere, somewhere being beyond the Rocky Mountains, across the bridgeless rivers, through the sticky mud that our cars are too ‘cool’ for, then maybe we would have our hearts to think with. I can admit that ‘somewhere’ has always been a place that the TV has exaggerated and overstressed for marketing purposes. But I have come to learn that this place does exist.
While many of us might never have had our samples transported, maybe because people in search for money that they know we have, have placed laboratories right at our door step. So, Sample Transport might not be a cause for alarm or the reason that would be justifiable enough if someone was to die for failing to have their sample transported.
Let me paint the picture. The Ministry of Health in Malawi does not have a Sample Transportation system in place in many areas. So if the health facilities in the remotest of areas receive/collect a specimen to be sent to another health facility or the district hospital for testing, they have to wait for the ambulance to have a more worth-while cause for coming over, such as a maternity complication. Then, carrying the samples and taking the results back is just something additional.
The health facilities usually have no sample-storage system, the samples end up being discarded, and the person has to be called AGAIN to recollect the sample and the inevitable response is people choosing not to come again. Or if it happens that it’s been sent, the results wait for another ambulance needing emergency to have them transported back and meanwhile the patient is waiting to be put on treatment and yes, in addition to the scarce medicine, people are dying because they can’t get tested or they can’t access their results soon enough.
So my hope is that our thoughts and passions will break the barriers of exposure and beyond our horizons to reach those ‘somewhere’ where failure to transport samples and results across difficult terrains is taking the lives of people who would make a difference through the contribution towards the country’s economic development.