Search and bring

Last week we went on a 4-day trip with the nurse and driver who go to outlying areas to search and bring back patients suitable for fistula surgery. Our destination was Koinadugu district, the poorest, and most remote of 12 in Sierra Leone. ‘Main roads’ are dusty, steep, tracks, some with broken bridges. We stopped in 25 villages to ask if anyone had fistula symptoms. We picked up one woman but 4 other patients reported were too remote for us to access; for example “5 miles down that rough track, and then 4 miles walk. But she may be in her fields harvesting.” We went to the radio station on a nearby hilltop and asked the man to transmit a personal message (cost £1.50) to ask the women to come in during the next day or two. Sadly our efforts failed.