Hargeysa, Somaliland, (SL Times) – This article waspublished in last week’s Somali edition of Saxansaxo newspaper based in Hargeysa. Reporters from Saxansaxo, while covering a news story on new medical equipment donated to Hargeysa general hospital by an overseas charity, came across an unusual event in the hospital which caught the imagination of the media and the public alike.
Full translated version of the article.
It was 9:30 in the morning, and as usual, in Hargeysa hospital, at this time of the morning there is a long line of people waiting to get medical attention at the emergency/out-patient department of the hospital.
There was a sudden commotion coming from the back end of the queue, which quickly attracted the attention and interest of those patiently standing and waiting in line. The sight of an injured small female monkey, seen limping, making its way towards the front of the line was the cause behind all the commotion.
The little red monkey was limping badly. The poor thing was seriously wounded and bleeding profoundly from its backside. It barely struggled to make it to the front of the line. Every 2 or 3 steps it took, it would stop, pausing for rest, and would start making its way again towards the front of the line where the medical staff worked, as if it knew the doctor and nurses were there and that help was at hand there.
“Unbelievable, it knows this is a hospital and is going for the emergency department for treatment,” said one of the patients, astonished by what he saw.
Another could be heard uttering, “God told the poor thing this is a place of healing.” Someone else covered his mouth with his hand in his mouth, amazed at seeing the injured little monkey, limping in pain and leaving behind a trail of blood.
The monkey seemed not to care the least about the crowd or the commotion it was causing. It was apparent the monkey had lost a lot of blood and was probably only half conscious of what anyone else was doing or saying.
The monkey made her way to the waiting room, where many patients were seated in the long rows of benches fixed to the walls, and sat itself down on the floor right next to the examination room where the doctor and nurses call on those in line for treatment.
The patients in the waiting room who were suffering from all sorts of ailments and, many of whom could barely move, suddenly became active full of energy when they saw the monkey walk straight ahead of them into the very front of the line.
The doctor and nurses too were surprised and taken aback by this unusual phenomenon, nonetheless, they refused to treat the monkey and could be heard arguing with some of the patients in the waiting room who were requesting that they treat the little monkey whose arrival at the hospital they saw as a sign from God.
“I cannot do anything for this animal; it’s not my line of medicine. I am not a trained vet, even, had I been a trained vet, we don’t have or stock in the hospital the necessary veterinary medicine needed to treat animals,” said the doctor to the agitated patients.
The doctor and nurses went back to attending to those they were treating and called everyone to calm down, and gave instructions to the people not to go near or touch the monkey for fear of contracting from it diseases or infections like rabies.
The little monkey would look on those being called by the nurses to see the doctor as if it was saying, “please, intervene and help me. Truly, I’m in pain, can’t you see?”
Clearly, the monkey knew what was going on, and from its eyes and facial expressions one could see that it was pleading for a show of mercy and help. This went on for a while. Then the little monkey gave up trying to make eye contact with those in the waiting room but continued to sit in the same spot and stared into the blank space, without making the slightest movement or flinch of muscle.
Seeing that the little monkey was not going to go or get any human help, whatsoever, we went about looking for some of the doctors we knew who worked in the hospital. We found Dr. Farah and brought him to the out-patients area so he could see for himself the plight of the injured monkey.
Dr. Farah was shocked by what he saw, and like the out-patient doctor refused to treat the poor animal and advised us to go to the ministry of Livestock where we could get a veterinary doctor to look at the injured monkey.
We rushed to the Ministry of Livestock and were directed to see a gentleman by the name of Dr. Abdillahi Ahmed who is the head of the ministry’s animal health department.
We briefed the good doctor about this amazing and sad event which took place inside the general hospital and the reluctance of the medical staff to help this poor injured animal. Dr Abdillahi reassured us that he will do everything in his power to help us and will treat the little monkey. Dr Abdillahi said that the hospital staff did the right thing in not treating the monkey, since it is not known what diseases it may be carrying.
Dr. Abdillahi quickly summoned a couple of recent graduates from the Sheikh Veterinary College who were now staff at the Ministry of Livestock and asked them to bring the little monkey back to the ministry for treatment.
We immediately went back to the hospital and found the little monkey, still perched, where we had left her in the out-patients waiting room floor. The young vet graduates from the ministry carefully picked up the injured animal with surgical hand gloves on, and placed it in a box and transported it back to the ministry for treatment.
This story highlights the importance and urgency needed in Somaliland for veterinary [non-livestock] animal services be made available in the country which could provide assistance to animals like this little monkey. International NGOs working for the safety, health and protection of animals should be introduced into the country to help and guide us in looking after our wild and urbanised animals.
Topic: An Injured Monkey Seeks Medical Treatment At Hargeysa Hospital (Read 11771 times)
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November 08, 2008, 07:05:19 AM