‘Passion drives health care workers’

Bongani Ndlovu, Chronicle Reporter

NINETEEN-year-old Miss Rutendo Kahari, an aspiring biomedicine researcher, has said her seven-week stint in Kenya was a wholesome experience, which made her understand more about medicine and the treatment of illnesses.

Miss Kahari studied Mathematics, Biology and Chemistry at Speciss College in Bulawayo.

She returned to Zimbabwe last week from Mombasa, Kenya for a seven-week internship at the Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital. She had left the country last month.

There she rotated around five departments namely; Internal Medicine, Comprehensive Center, Cardiac Center, Newborn Unit and the Paediatrics ward.

The Bulawayo-born aspiring biomedical researcher got funds through a GoFundMe campaign to travel to Kenya for internship under Elective Africa.

She was housed in an apartment with several fellow Elective Africa attachees in Mombasa, owned by the organisation.

Miss Kahari was the only African chosen under the Elective Africa programme to shadow doctors from that nation to gain invaluable knowledge in the medical field.

It was her dream to pursue biomedical research after taking care of her father Mr Grain Kahari who fell ill when she was eight years of age and later died when she was 16.

Miss Kahari said she was back from the internship and was grateful for the help from people who raised funds for her.

She said from the seven-week experience she got to understand the science behind diseases in the various departments in the hospital and how they affect the human body.

Miss Kahari said she understands things can go wrong in the hospital, patients deteriorate and in worst cases, they die.

“I had to be confident enough to be able to start conversations with doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals and I must say, they were more than happy to answer my questions,” said Miss Kahari.

She said passion drives the health care workers something that she resonates with.

“Doctors and healthcare professionals are driven by passion; it is beyond their titles and money. I admired the work that they did and I will emulate their approach to saving lives because that is what they love to do,” said Miss Kahari.

“I got to speak to a lot of health professionals who shared powerful words of advice as I continue to pursue my dreams of advancing the healthcare system in Africa.”

Miss Kahari said she got to speak and learn a bit of Kiswahili during her stay.

She said as soon as she landed there was no rest, but she felt at home at the hospital.

“The first week, I completed my first hospital rotation in the Internal Medicine Department for the week at Coast Provincial General Hospital! We had an attending physician who posed a lot of tough questions. I could relate to the heart failure-related questions because of my experience with my father, whose passing, as some of you know, was my inspiration for pursuing Biomed,” said Miss Kahari.

She said she learnt about treating tuberculosis, HIV and heart failure and got some invaluable lessons from the physicians they were shadowing.

“A lot of patients in the internal medicine ward have more than one condition. For example, they could be suffering from TB and pneumonia, HIV and heart failure / acute kidney infection. I’ve also realised that most patients with HIV have a history of non-compliance (they stop taking their antiretrovirals after a while) so they are always in and out of the hospital. I learned so much and appreciate how hard the doctors work here to overcome the obstacles they face daily,” said Miss Kahari.

She said during her second week she delved into the world of dermatology (study of the skin) at the Skin Clinic.

“I had the opportunity to work at the skin clinic with one of the best dermatologists at the hospital, Dr Matonda. The learning experience was thrilling as I learnt about the anatomy and physiology of the skin, classification of dermatological conditions, management of dermatological conditions, dermatological vocabulary and opportunistic infections indicating HIV manifestations.

Miss Kahari said the best part of her experience was seeing the theory in action through the different patients who came in with conditions such as eczema, alopecia, vitiligo, tinea and acne.

“I must say, I had to sharpen my tongue to pronounce most of the dermatological vocabulary,” she said.

Miss Kahari said it was interesting to learn about some of the challenges around HIV treatment in Africa such as antiviral drug resistance and non-compliance by patients because some feel better after taking medication for a while and stigma.

She said she was touched when she worked at the children’s ward where she saw how to perform a lumbar puncture on a newborn who was suffering from Neonatal Meningitis (inflammation of the meninges in the new-borns brain during the first 28 days of life).

“I marvelled at how the doctors were putting in the hard work to come up with viable treatment plans to manage these conditions with lots of sleepless nights! I had the opportunity to witness a lumbar puncture being performed on a baby who was suspected to have neonatal meningitis,” said Miss Kahari.

She said although she missed home and being with her mother Janet and siblings, she would cherish the experience for years to come.

Miss Kahari said her next stop is to apply for a scholarship at Princeton University in America so that she can, when she graduates, contribute to the betterment of Africa and in particular Zimbabwe’s health care system.

She said she visited various places of historical sites in Mombasa such as Fort Jesus, Old Town Mombasa, Jumba la mtwana, Gede ruins, and Elephant Tusks in the city centre.- @bonganinkunzi