It’s happened. Yesterday I arrived home to be greeted by Gideon walking towards me carrying his mother’s phone. He obviously hadn’t appreciated what a significant step this was as he staggered over to me – I suppose he masters new skills all the time and this is just one further culmination of those incremental developments. Perhaps for him, working out how to remove the laces from shoes some weeks ago, or pull out his father’s lettuce seedlings was more significant?

Life at the hospital continues with both exciting fresh developments and continuing to treat diseases as old as history. Our renovations of old maternity ward into the new female ward are moving along well and most of the structural work is now complete.

Meanwhile we diagnosed a case of leprosy last week. While we don’t see a lot of leprosy (last case was over a year ago) it is obviously an upsetting diagnosis to be given. As the diagnosis was made early, if our patient takes the treatment correctly, hopefully he will not be left with much disability.

Another name for Leprosy in Hansen’s Disease (named after the discoverer of causative agent in 1873), so it was noteworthy that the diagnosis was made by Dr Jim Hansen (no known relative) – a retired American Cardiologist who has been working with us for the last 9 months. Sadly Dr Jim’s time with us finished at the weekend as he is returning to America with his wife Suzanne. If you’re in Northern Ireland and free on 12th May you can hear some of what Dr Jim has been up to at the Friends of Kiwoko Hospital AGM. Ken + Judith Finch should also be along so it’ll be quite a party. We shan’t be there, but hope to make it next year.

Cheers,

Rory