Kibosho Hospital Clinic
A clinic in the clouds
Kibosho Hospital is located a 20 minute drive from Moshi, up into the foothills of Mt Kilimanjaro. It is approximately 1400m above sea level, the morning is in the clouds until they lift around lunch time.
Some sort of medical facility has been here since 1929. The Tanzanian government puts the start of the hospital as 1970. It is quite a large hospital having 225 beds. It has been a major centre for the treatment of AIDS patients. Previously, once a person had been given a diagnosis of AIDS, they had to go to the hospital every month to receive their prescription of anti-retroviral medication. These days, the visit is once every 3 months, leading to a drop in patient numbers passing through the hospital.
Apparently a German NGO had donated money to build another hospital not so far away, which was completed 2 years ago. This has taken a lot of the business away from this hospital, which is currently rather quiet.
The hospital conducts first class eye surgery as well as delivering an average of 100 babies every month.
Most babies are delivered by cesarean section. This may lead to post-operative complications. HHA conducted a research project to administer Bellis perennis 12C post operatively and the result was faster wound healing and a marked reduction in post-operative complications.
The homeopathy clinic is conducted outside in Shed No. 5, this allowed us to feel the full experience of the cloud forest environment!
Patients waited under a tree in the garden
Some cases from this clinic
A 64 year old female presented with hip and back pain, described as left sided sciatica. She complained of tiredness. Her skin itched when in contact with cold water. She had a history of 3 caesarean deliveries and surgery to remove a uterine fibroid. All surgeries had been performed with epidural anesthesia. A risk associated with epidural is nerve damage. Bellis perennis was prescribed for this lady. A look in Boger’s Synoptic Key shows an affinity to left side, injuries to nerves and general aggravation from from cold. Numerous traditional materia media mentions “railway spine” which is back ache resulting from travelling in a train but indicates discomfort in the spine i.e. back ache.
This case illustrates how Bellis perennis is useful for post epidural surgery as in the research project mentioned above. It may be administered post operatively or for ailments from surgery, including tumours from injury, even many years ago, as in this case.
A follow up case of another woman showed that the previous remedy given her, Argentum nitricum, had helped some of the symptoms that she had originally presented with. Her headaches had reduced, the bloating in her abdomen had reduced while she was taking the remedy and had returned once the remedy had stopped. Her appetite had improved. Now the main complaint was heart palpitations. She could not lie on her left side as this made the palpitations much worse. She also had photophobia and lachrymation, worse on the left side. She had a sensation of heaviness and complained of pains in her waist and shoulders. The remedy that covered all these symptoms was Spigella.
Even though it appears other remedies may also cover these symptoms as seen in this repertorisation, it is Spigella that has the affinity for heart, eyes, left side and rheumatic pains. Some of the materia medica books that help to identify the affinities include Phatak and Boericke. Knowledge of materia medica is an important part of being a homeopath.
This case also shows that there is not just one remedy that cures everything. Jeremy taught that the Similimum is the harmonious sequence of the right remedies. Incidentally, Professor George Vithoulkas says the same thing.
Next week, I’ll write about the orphanage clinics that I went to.