Malaria Epidemic
Dr. Tim Kubacki flies with MAF on his monthly rounds with the Clinica da Videira (Clinic of Truth) as he visits rural and isolated areas of Angola to provide medical care and the hope of the Gospel.
Dr. Kubacki, along with his wife Betsy and their four children, work with CEML hospital and currently live in Cavango where Dr. Kubacki is the lone doctor at the rural hospital.
By Dr. Tim Kubacki
A few months ago we flew with MAF to various remote sites in Angola to work medical clinics. We visited Catota for the first time to work in a hospital built by the government on an old mission that was destroyed during the war in the 1970s. They haven’t had a doctor work there regularly since the mission’s destruction.
This remote area is facing an extreme malaria epidemic, where virtually every person is dealing with the disease.
When we arrived they had been out of malaria medication for several weeks, except for IV quinine which requires three doses per day and is quite impractical, except in severe cases.
Our visit to Catota was timely as we were able to treat nearly one hundred malaria patients, many with complicated and severe disease because of the duration of illness without treatment. We were also able to leave with them several hundred dollars’ worth of oral and intramuscular medications, everything we had.
While there, I was approached by nearly every nurse who told me that
they had tested positive in the past several weeks but had no medication with which to treat themselves. They each continued to work full-time with the illness and, without exception, they all looked awful. They are an incredibly tough people, dealing with this and other diseases with little available treatment.
During this week my MAF pilot, Marijn Goud, demonstrated his expertise and I now know that I will never have to worry about my safety on future trips. He has a beautiful heart for Jesus and is quite enthused about our work among the forgotten and what role he can play in our monthly visits to the various rural locations around Angola.