Thank You, Sister: Clinics

Nurses are often called “sisters,” with the head nurse called the “matron.” To my surprise, this terminology even carries over to the male nurses, who are also called sisters, at least in the rural clinics. In the government clinics they wear white uniforms with shoulder bars, and I saw a few still wearing small round white hats pinned to their heads.

All post-high-school tuition is paid for by the government, and even living expenses only need to be paid back 50%. For example, the nurse I was talking to today did her three years of nursing school and only owed 5000 Pula (less than $1000) at the end, plus being required to work in government clinics for a minimum of two years.
The clinics vary widely, though most have an “injection room,” a “dressing room,” and a pharmacy or at least a shelf of generic medications. All have huge lines in the mornings, since patients are seen on a first-come, first-served basis, and nobody seems to wait until afternoon, even though the clinics are technically open.

I enjoyed the range of signs and posters on the walls, where a graphic poster of STD lesions might hang next to the morning devotion schedule, which is itself next to the Cryptococcus meningitis poster, or the staff rules poster. I’ll quote verbatim the staff rules posted at one clinic:

“Avoid late coming or knocking off early.
Avoid coming to work untidy.
Avoid coming to work drunk.
Avoid using abusive language.
Avoid ‘busking’ in the sun especially when patients are around.
Avoid absconding from work.”

Good advice to live by, though I think most of you could use a little more “busking” in the sun (even if the patients are around!).