Today follows a day of re-thinking, re-planning and a fairly
high level of stress in trying to work out the best move before an enforced Covid-19
lock down.
Long story, short, we are returning home on Monday 16th,
rather than Saturday 21st. There were reports that our entry to
Qatar Airport, even for transfer, was going to be denied. Although this wasn’t
backed up officially on their website, we could see they were getting twitchy
about certain travellers entering the country. The lock down happened in
Ireland, various international worker friends were getting hasty flights home,
family at home were highlighting concerns, we decided the responsible thing was
to make our exit.
Preparation for the three day workshops halted immediately,
and the whole day was spent trying to get through to Opodo and Qatar airways.
Both here, and from UK, hours were spent waiting on the phone. Eventually,
while I kept internet vigil and email ping-pong, Sarah and Stevie found a taxi
and requested eye to eye consultation at a local Qatar office we’d found an
address for in Kathmandu.
The options were to purchase a brand new flight either
Friday or Saturday, for around £270 each, or attempt to re-schedule our booked
flight for an earlier one, at much less cost. Opodo weren’t re-scheduling any
flights more than 7 days away, so this option wasn’t really going to help us, and
flights were booking up fast. The only reschedule available to us by this
stage, at mid afternoon, was a flight four days later, on the Monday, for a
cost of £20. With the trip already being a significant demand on our personal
purses, the extra expense was a real issue. This needed to be weighed against
what it might cost to be potentially ‘stranded’ in Nepal, with loss of income,
accommodation costs, and possible cost to our health, not to mention emotional
stress of loved ones at home. The decision was made to stay put, until Monday,
and hope that the situation at Qatar Airport or our own Heathrow Airport
doesn’t change before then.
Although we’re not sure quite how much Covid-19 testing is
being carried out in Nepal, and hence under reporting of cases, the doctors we
are familiar with are not yet at a point of any panic, and haven’t mentioned
any cases. This bodes well for no massive eruption of cases within the next few
days. On a very selfish level, I’d prefer to be back at home before the panic
hits. But I’ll leave with a heavy heart, and some guilt, knowing how the
situation here could look the very near future. Italy is in the midst of a
horror story. The health system in Nepal has not long ago faced the horror of
the 2015 earthquake. Memories of 48+hr shifts, total exhaustion, inadequate
facilities, meds, etc must be close to the surface in the minds of all the
medical friends I shall be leaving.
On a lighter note, while I made a start at sorting the
flight situation, Sarah and Stevie met up with Prasansa and Rukumani, two of
the new midwives, and journalist Cathy. Cathy is hoping to write an article on
the journey towards midwifery in Nepal, so we’ll be keeping a beady eye on this
in the press. She had to leave hastily last night, back to her home in India,
before the border was closed to her. I’m sure we’ll be keeping in touch.
 |
| Prasansa and Rukumani receiving from Sarah, one of Becky Reed's six donated books, 'Birth in Focus'. Thank you, Becky. xx |
So, what now? What happens over the next few days? I think
the three of us are slightly shell shocked by yesterday’s stresses. It feels
inappropriate to be planning any kind of workshop now. We are meeting some of
the midwifery students from the Kathmandu University in Dhulikhel. They’re
coming to the Midwifery Society office. We may get to visit the Mangla Devi
Birth Centre. We have some equipment for them. We would like to meet up with Dr
Shree Prasad, who we met in Bharatphur last year . He is now working as obygyn
at the Paropakar Women’s Hospital in Thapathali. We have books and equipment
still to give to the Birth Centre, which we will now give to him. We’ll also
try to introduce him to some of the new midwives who will be working in the
hospital. He is very supportive of the positive changes midwifery will bring to
the unit, and could be a uniting body within the multi-professional team there.
We may manage some work time in the MIDSON office before we leave, too.
So, we’re incredibly disappointed we’re here and haven’t
managed what we’d hoped to achieve. In the grand scheme of things, it’s just one
of life’s lemons. We’ll hopefully get home safely. We did, at least, manage to
distribute the books and equipment and were welcomed by our contacts and
friends. And we will be taking home thoughts and inspirations we can grow later
on.
No comments:
Post a Comment