Category: Ed Wilkins’ Blog
-
Not exactly a Tour-de-France peloton, but the number and permutations of the one-gear bikes, with rickshaws, side-cars, and front and back carriers, is one of the features of Yangon. The helmeted Lycra-clad version we see bombing around the streets of urban UK would not withstand the obstacles here. The roads require nothing less than the…
-
There are several joys of getting older in medicine. First there are more stories to tell the ever-rotating batches of juniors, usually relating either to hours on call, which are prefixed with ‘When I was an SHO’ or to cases seen when it’s ‘I remember a patient with’. Then there’s the freedom to care less…
-
You soon learn there are hidden dangers for us western folk in super-hot Yangon. First, you never text while moving. If on the pavement, you’re likely to disappear 4 feet down into the mosquito larva encrusted sewerage system because there is the occasional missing paving stone; veering slightly off course onto the road means a…
-
So week 4 is nearly underway. Of course, anyone reading this may think I’m off my trolley working in such a challenging environment at such an advanced age when I should be sipping a mature Chateauneuf du Pape, doing the Times crossword (which I can’t do anyway), and thinking about what time the cricket starts…
-
Let me tell you about MAM now, the organisation I’m responsible to. They could sort out the NHS with their energy and imagination. The picture above shows you where the current clinics are and there are new clinics for IVDU and in areas in Myanmar where limited or no services are available being built/developed and…
-
So, my ‘go-to’ place where there is air-conditioning is the famous Myanmar Plaza. That’s where the internet access is and you can even get a flat-white. For a bit of ‘back-home’ if needed this is the place to be. Back to the clinic and an important topic, food! All the clinic staff eat enormous amounts…
-
In a bus station sweating profusely, drinking excellent Myanmar beer having survived the first week, eaten every local street food that looks edible and suffered the consequences and now about to start on a 10-hour overnight bus journey to Bagan, home of the temples (picture). Now I have been and worked in many places but…