Chinese Medical Doctor Stuck in Ghana

A doctor with a team of medical doctors from Guangzhou, China is now stuck in Accra, Ghana.

The 11 member team, including Dr. Song, a psychiatrist, were sent to Ghana in early this year to help out in medical training. With a lot of patience, other specialists have already started helping out in a hospital, Dr. Song, however, is still waiting for assignment.

According to Dr. Song's blog, written in Chinese, the team had encountered several obstacles since arrived in Accra. First, there are only two teaching hospitals in Ghana, one is in Accra, Korle Bu and one is in Kumasi, which is 4-6 hours driving distance away. The Kumasi one is also less equipped than Korle Bu. However, the hospital president has little to assign to a Chinese psychiatrist, for now.

Dr. Song wrote that the team had also hard to adjust to the always daily power outage and water shortage, when the power is out, the team of 11 mid-aged men, not a single female, had to wonder outside in a small court yard to fend off the sizzling heat amid the hay days of a dry season in Accra.

Another difficult is the high cost of living. Except certain seafoods and tropic fruits, vegetables are extremely high compared to these in China. For example, two lettuce could cost a dollar or five RMB yuans. To Chinese, vegatables are vital to dialy diet.

The most difficult thing is the slow pace and back and forth it takes to accomplish a smallest task. For example, it took them four car trips to make copies of keys. Dr. song said that it always made him a little headache and retard.