Little Kathmandu II

I ran the tuberculosis contact screening clinic today. A woman brought in a van-load of Nepalis, all of whom had the misfortune of having shared a hostel room with a co-worker infected with tuberculosis.

Hah! Another outbreak of Nepalis!

There were altogether 11 of them. My job was simple - take a targeted history and perform a quick examination, and review the chest x-ray and sputum results. These smart guys took the opportunity to complain about their headaches, body aches, skin rashes and constipation! Pretty soon I felt like I was running a polyclinic. By the fourth patient, I had to tell them that I was just a "TB doctor"! Health care should not be this compartmentalized, but I had tonnes of other patients to see.

Sigh. I hate to turn patients away, especially these gentle Nepalis.