An Afternoon of Hospital Ministry

Yesterday was a difficult day. We accompanied a lady by the name of Nelia to the local pubic hospital to pray for the sick in the surgery and pediatric wards. The scene was incredible to me, and not in a good way, when I first saw how they administer care to the people there. The hospital looks something like a scene from a world war 2 film with dirty walls, broken floors, beds that are falling apart, and medical equipment that is antiquated. We prayed for a lady who had been in the hospital for four days for a surgery that would have been a simple day surgery back home. Many people in the hospital are prescribed medications that they cannot afford and they cannot leave the hospital until their bill is paid. So, if a person cannot afford their hospital bill they must remain there until they can pay it, and every day they stay their bill cotinues to accumulate. Nelia is often an advocate for these people negotiating hospital bills down from 80,000 pesos to 4,000 pesos. But, when the minimum daily salary can be as little as 240 pesos a day it is hardly affordable, even for public health care.

In the pediatric ward, 90% of the children we prayed for were there because of dehydration from diarrhea. We prayed for one lady who was in the hospital with her 11 day old baby because she had given birth to him at home and the baby had sepsis from the home birth. I'm not even sure what the prognosis was for the baby but we prayed for him nonetheless. Another man had his son in the hospital with a kidney infection for 16 days simply because he could not afford the medication. My heart was so broken for the people there I can't even describe the feelings. We ended up buying medications for those who couldn't afford them, but even that contribution feels like a tiny drop in the bucket because the need is so overwhelming.

As I was waiting with Nelia for the prescriptions to be written out so we could buy the medications, a woman came out of the room with her 20 month old son John David. No one had prayed for her son yet and I was told he had leukemia. I laid hands on him and prayed for healing in his little body, and told her I would have my family back home praying for him (so when you think about it please pray for John David). I ended up paying for antibiotics for him as well. The pharmacy was outside of the hospital, not in the hospital and there were several from which to choose. I was in disbelief at the fact that even though they are in public care, the hospital doesn't supply the necessary medication.

Sitting here a day later, our visit to such a derelict hospital seems almost as though it wasn't real. I don't know if that's because of the shock of it, or because I could never have imagined public health care being so poorly supported by the state. All we could do was pray.