Neonatal Service in Honghe
Audrey Chan (Short-term Team Leader)
“What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task.” (1 Corinthians 3:5)
MSI’s paediatric and neonatal service started in Honghe since 2013. In the past 7 years, we witnessed the development of the paediatric unit especially in neonatal care through the joint services of 3 long-termers and many more intermittent short-term teams. The unit slowly but surely expanded the scope of its paediatric care from sick new-borns to premature babies to its current status of being accredited as a county level neonatal centre.
This acknowledgement excites and encourages both the local team and our MSI team. The department is deemed the smallest unit in Honghe hospital, yet it is the first among all hospital specialties to be considered for accreditation. Furthermore, neonatal service could obtain a sizeable fund upon successful accreditation.
The unexpected COVID pandemic threw our 2 planned Honghe on-site neonatal trainings this year into total disarray. Following an online meeting between our Yunnan office, Honghe hospital leaders and Honghe long-termer, we decided to organise monthly online training to keep pace with the local team in their preparatory work for accreditation.
In addition to an ongoing WeChat support group for the consultation of cases, Dr Wendy assisted us to kick-start monthly online training in early August. In our trial run, we prepared a patient case on a baby to share with the local team. Their response was enthusiastic, and they raised questions on cases that they were managing. The format for our subsequent classes (we just finished the fourth training in November) was interactive. The local team needs to propose the topic and present patient cases for discussion. The aim is to prepare them for their unit’s accreditation audit. We are still at an exploratory phase.
Our Lord is faithful! When we were worried about recruiting sufficient neonatologists to sustain the monthly class until the time we could have on-site trainings again, MSI mobilisers in Taiwan and Singapore mobilised teammates to form an international short-term team. We continue to pray for more teammates! May our Lord’s light be shone in places that are in need!
