How would you have managed this case?

2007-11-16T19:58:00.000-08:00

This is case I had 2 weeks ago. How would you have managed this case?

Case Summary

A 3 year old boy presented with intermittent high fever for 4 days, being irritable and head ache. He was being managed as a outpatient on antimalarials, amoxcillin and paracetamol suspension. The working diagnosis was URI.

The mother presented with the child when I was on call. I admitted the child and commenced intravenous fluids (normal saline) at maintanance rate, ceftriaxone and paracetamol suppository. The lab was closed so no blood tests were done. When reviewed the next afternoon around 12pm, the fever has settled and the patient was much better. He was discharged on oral ceclor.

Your opinons please.

Why this blog?

2007-11-08T20:20:00.000-08:00

OK, so what is it like to work as a private doctor in a developing country?

That is precisely the purpose of this blog. To share with you my experiences on the kind of patients I see and the challenges of trying to provide private medical care in Papua New Guinea. If you do not where PNG is just Google it.

I was in Japan doing my PhD in microbiology and molecular biology plus a bit on medical entomology (mosquitoes) before deciding to withdraw from studies to return to PNG and join the private sector. I was in Japan for 3 years. Many of my friends probably thought I was crazy to give a scholarship and the prestige of a PhD to return to clinical practise.

I think it all depends on what you want in life and want to achieve. While researching for the PhD I realised I did not want a PhD in microbiology and molecular biology. I still want to pursuer a higher degree (if time permits) but not in the field where I was doing my research. So here I am, back in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, described as one of the riskiest places to live. They reckon Iraq is more safe!! And a country demoted to a Least Developed Country, from a Developing Country by WHO.

Well, I am working in private hospital that is expanding. And it's exciting to work. It is also refreshing to go back to clinical practise after over 5 years of working as a lab rat. I think being a general practitioner in a developing country ( or least developed country) is totally different in more developed economies. I want to chronicle my experiences and how I treat common clinical problems that I see in my daily practise.

I would also like this blog to provide information of tourists and travellers coming to Papua New Guinea to know the standard and kind of private medical care that is provided so that in case they can plan ahead. And also to provide information on the number and location of private medical centres in PNG so they know where to go they have medical problems.

So there you go folks, thank you for visiting my blog and check back in a week or two for my first article. Due to the cost of Internet I will try and write one article every week or two.

General Practice In PNG

How would you have managed this case?

Why this blog?