A post by Andrew Barna

The ink well has been running low for me lately, but I was recently reminded about a remarkable healthcare organization that is worthy of a post: Doctors Without Borders. While flipping through cable channels, my wife and I came across a series that tells the stories of Doctors Without Borders and their missions from locations as far reaching as war torn Africa and a remote village in South America. These physicians (and one psychologist) were operating in some of the worst conditions imaginable and with little supplies or support. In most cases they were the only medical personnel present and their treatment facility was a tent with dirt floors. In one case, the doctors had to flee their medical refuge because they heard gun-fire approaching. Their patients, of course, had no means other than by foot to escape.

The doctors also faced medical as well as ethical challenges. In the village in Africa, a baby girl was brought to the doctor with some kind of swelling in her head. The only hospital and physicians in the country that could have treated the girl were hundreds of miles away and the family would have had to come up with money for her treatment. Faced with this insurmountable obstacle, the doctor had little that she could offer the family and they ended up taking the girl back to their village, where she most likely perished.

After the program, my wife and I felt like there must be something more that could be done. The moral imperative seemed so tangible and clear. Simple vaccines or anesthetic, medical resources that are readily available in our country, could have saved people's lives in some of these situations, but none was available. There must be a way to get healthcare to where it is needed. Alas there are many complications and difficulties - financial, political, cultural - standing in the way of this goal. Regardless, the selfless volunteers for Doctors Without Borders are certainly doing their part.