Pakistan: Nowshera Health Centre

Morbidity Report from 1^st April to June 30^th, 2014
 
Demographics: From 1^st April to 30^th June 2014, 3,485 patients were diagnosed and treated at the Nowshera Health Center for a variety of medical conditions. Of the patients who visited the hospital during this period 3,076 (88.3%) were women, 407 (11.7%) were children. Of the children 243 (66.7%) were male children while the rest 136 (33.3%) were girl children. There were no adult male patients, perhaps because it was now established within the community that this is a women’s health center and they chose to stay away. In the first 4 months we had adult male patients, mostly elderly men.  

MCH Statistics: In this reporting period, 257 and 183 women came for antenatal and postnatal visits, respectively. About 163 women sought family planning services and 56 women came seeking treatment for infertility, a substantial increase from the previous figure of 19 women. Many of these women were referred to the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar for tertiary level treatment as we do not have the expertise or facilities to address issues of infertility. A total of 1,898 women visited the center for gynecological problems. The breakdown of the variety of these gynecological problems presented is summarized in the table below.

Primary Health Statistics: An additional 1,546 women and children were treated for a variety of primary health problems; most were the result of poverty and unhygienic living conditions of the patients living in this community. The most common complaint (17.4%) was generalized body aches, weakness and malaise. These are symptoms of depression but are not recognized as such by the local culture where depression is considered a weakness of character. Rather they prefer a pathological finding for their symptoms. Hence we prescribe these patients vitamins as placebos in addition to the fact that their poor diet dictates vitamin supplements for complete health. The second commonly presentation was diarrhea (15%). Other ailments presented include:

Eleven victims of road traffic accidents were also brought to our health center for immediate emergency care while non-RTA related injuries were presented by 16 patients.  The total number of referrals, minus those made for infertility made during these three months was 14 patients.

Pathology Lab Statistics: The pathology lab conducted a total of 509 routine investigative tests in this 3-month period.  The table below shows the breakdown

This project significantly improved the access for women and children of the IDP community to quality primary level healthcare. The RMF health centre is slowly but surely building a good will in the community and as a sign of the health centre’s engagement with the local communities, it often received volunteers from the surrounding villages to help with its services and outreach activities which are currently limited to health education on hygienic living condition focused mostly on a scabies free environment and clean water/food to avoid diarrhoea.
 
The RMF health centre also interacts and coordinates with local health authorities at the district and provincial levels. We are currently in the process of obtaining collaboration from the KPK EPI program to set up an EPI desk and technician in the centre. However for this to materialize we are in need of a refrigerator to maintain the cold chain.