The Emergency Department and ICU

I spent day 1 in the Emergency Department and ICU. I saw such interesting things. They treat patients for Tuberculosis, Dengue fever, malaria and other illnesses. I saw one patient with a heart malformation (truncus arteriosis). They are working on a surgical heart program, but it is not yet developed. This patient's heart is unrepaired, and he had oxygen sats in the 50's. Scary! They put another patient on CPAP (continuous positivie airway pressure). Their version of CPAP is to put one end of the oxygen tubing in a bottle of water. I'm not sure how well it works, because the patient was still in quite a bit of distress! I guess they make due, but still, 1 in 15 children die by the age of 5. They got ventilators in 2005. Prior to that, they just had to bag patients all day and all night until they started breathing on their own. Can you imagine?