First Day of Clinic

Patients and their families
Originally uploaded by interplast

Bamako, Mali - Bonnie MacEvoy, anesthesiologist: First full day in Mali and as always we hold a clinic day.

We got up early for a group meeting before seeing patients and had breakfast in the dining room. I needed to ask for another blanket and some other things for our room. The night shift guy was asleep, or as they say, "on Mali time."

We all marched to the hospital, about two blocks away. We were met with a very loud and chaotic crowd, packed into two long hallways. Of course, if one child comes in to be seen, he or she arrives with his or her mother, siblings, uncle, grandfather, blankets and food for the day.