The call comes in the middle of my clinic session at the hospital in rural Kenya where I work. I apologize to the patient in front of me and answer my phone. It’s the emergency department at the hospital in rural Kenya where I work.
“Hello daktari, can you come? We have a critical patient in casualty.”
I run down the street to the hospital to find an elderly gentleman lying in one of our emergency room beds. He is clearly struggling to breathe. I learn that he has a history of diabetes and hypertension; he developed a headache and paralysis on one side of his body two days ago. Now he is unconscious with a low oxygen saturation, even with a nonrebreather mask on. The staff are looking at me, wondering what to do.
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