We saw a 6 year old boy with abdominal pain, I thought he had a bowel obstruction so he needed to be admitted to hospital for observation. We have an out patient clinic only at the moment so we transferred him to the provincial hospital where he had surgery to remove part of his bowel. He had to stay in hospital for a week to recover and have intravenous medication so we went to review him every day. Just before discharge his wound opened exposing his bowel so he needed a second operation. the family had run out of money and wanted to take his son home, it was essential he stayed so I paid for his medicines, the family was very grateful. I thought it was the right thing to do and then some more families arrived at our clinic and asked for money to pay for medical bills as treatment is not free in Laos. The team pointed out I was being noble but creating an unsustanable expectation. I'm glad I could help this family but you can't help everyone so may make a different decision next time. It's so difficult, I find it annoying that there is so much inequality in the world. We are so lucky in the UK to have free health care provided by the world's top rated health service, despite the Conservative party trying to destroy the NHS.
