Most people with a care for recent history will recall that flash-in-a-pan phenomenon of 2011. For a short while this name took the world by storm. Who will easily forget the long winding lines of caravans from across East and Central Africa making their way to that till-then obscure locality in Northern Tanzania. Who will forget the same masses faithfully gulping down cups upon cups of the cherished cure that went for Tsh 500? Kikombe Cha Babu as it was aptly called was this magical elixir that cured all ailments. So you can only imagine what a sensation it was expected to cause. From the incurable HIV to the very troublesome diabetes and erratic hypertension, Kikombe Cha Babu spared none (sounds familiar?) Not just this but even the apparently well people just had to insure themselves from future incidences of sickness. Heck even Tanzanian MPs were not to be left out on this seemingly once-in-a-lifetime-chance at a cheap remedy gravy train! A Health cabinet minister (a doctor herself) sanctioned it..
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| A Public Security Agent Drinks From 'The Cup'! |
Hospital beds had rapidly been emptied of their occupants and so had many chronic disease and HIV treatment programs.
I was working at Bondo District Hospital then. Before we had grasped the magnitude of the issue so many patients in our care had already made the all important expedition and were already waiting among the frenzied throngs in Loliondo. Then we had made it a point to do a routine talk on the baselessness of the claims. But alas!
A friend of mine who was on follow up had confided to me about his intentions of making the journey. He had quietly listened as I tore through the inaccuracies and laid bare 'facts' surrounding the said concoction (but what did I know about it really?) Alas, poor me! Who was I to stand in the way of a brother who only desired the best for himself? For gone he had, his mind having certainly been made up about the entire business.
Then like all bubbles this one too had burst. It had come in the most tragic but expected of ways. Patients who most likely had been pulled off important lifesaving medicines and secure environments had died awaiting their turn at the cup. Not one, not two, not three but fifty plus two according to the official figures released. Only then had the concerned authorities acted.
But even before this it was easy to see that a disaster in one form or the other was looming large over the village. What was hard to fathom is why authorities looked the other way as matters slowly but surely came to a head. The evident humanitarian crisis alone should have been an indicator to an impending implosion. But such is the way that authorities this side of the world manage important public affairs.
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| Winding Lines on Their way To Loliondo. |
The aftermath of this debacle remains untold but if consideration is taken about the toll of these happenings on the public health system then it becomes clear why healthcare remains one of our biggest challenges.
The drug changes, the worsening morbidities and even mortalities (all of these easily preventable). Name them.
My form two definition of faith remains very clear, "hope for unseen things". Is it what we now have all over the place? Is faith wholesomely dispensable like a prescription? Is the production of a token equal to the manifestation of faith? Many Men of Cloth will have you believe so. For what ends? But only if they went about it with less pomp and more humility. And so it happens that one of the silent thorns in the side of conventional medicine are characters of dubious distinctions who for one reason or the other have been left to operate with unwarranted abandon. Scorning miracle healing is far from my objective but preying on a desperate and thus gullible public to sell their 'wares'? But truth be told, the conundrum that is the public healthcare delivery system is not helping matters either.
I was very young in my practice. Just fresh from internship and very eager to exercise that hard won independence. It is thus to be expected that I saw the world of patient care in only two dimensions; my way and my way. This arose from two weaknesses on my part; the inability to well harmonize theory and actual practice and secondly a shaky grasp of that trifling thing called human nature and conduct. Every new lad in the field goes through the same. So I had seen this middle aged lady with very non specific complaints. My work up had of course included HIV and it turned out positive. Applying tonnes of counselling to the point that I nearly forgot to treat her for the more pressing problems. We had enrolled her in our care unit and I took particular self imposed responsibility for her, she being my first patient to fully deal with right from start. It delighted me that I was now digging my teeth in the otherwise confounding world of HIV care. Scheduled her for sample collection, I gave this business the very best shot and my especial personal touch. Alas!
She did not disappoint at first, dutifully keeping her appointments and seemingly keen on her care. Well till tragedy struck! She met this pastor. And away flew my bird. She defaulted and made it clear that she had found the path to her healing and would keep at it and no other else. I expressed my utter incredulity but nothing could change her mind. Later at the instigation of the very same pastor she had even claimed that we had lumped a wrong status on her; she had never been infected in the first place. The scoundrel. Off she had disappeared in intercessionary schedules and because of many other related reasons we had given up on her.
For some months matters had gone well with her. Well just for some months before she began on a quiet downhill slide. Then the prayer sessions had increased (we maintained a discreet interest in her affairs!) Till it was very late. Then she had died. Case one.
A much beloved high school principal in one of the schools near our facility and whom we had been seeing left us a bitter sad pill. Diabetic and hypertensive it however alarmed us when he started skipping his appointments and going for weeks without his medicines. At first he gave vague reasons for his conduct. That he had seen another physician who had recommended other pills and such like stuff. Of course we trusted that a high school principal must know better so we bothered him no more. It was not before long that word lazily floated on the air that he was actually seeking the intervention of a famed Woman of God not so far from the facility community. Damn!
We have all heard what a deadly combo diabetes and hypertension can make. So here was a man at his prime who had been under good control but who nevertheless thought he had had enough of the daily pills. But for what? He stood no chance. He could for days remain holed up in the lady's premises under her ministrations and word spread that he was on a steady decline. Aloof to the advice of his colleagues it was now in the open that for him it was just a matter of time. He had developed a stroke and one can only imagine what havoc the uncontrolled sugars were playing on his fickle systems. But adamant he remained. He succumbed in this setting and only rushed to hospital when it became apparent he was no more. Prophetess had lost such a high profile and well paying client but you think he would be the last? Case two.
A cup, just one cup will cure it. The rich and poor, elite and unlearned alike all put their faith in a cup of something from one Babu. Any health professional who believes he has seen the last of these miracles cures is deluded. Every day on national TV, radio are these adverts for all sorts of unfounded healing claims. Newer, fancier pastors, herbalists, waganga et al promising heaven only to dispense hell. (Both physical, spiritual and financial). I bet that's how the world operates..
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