Project Phongsali 2011: We evaluate hospital services in the event that our team encounters accident victims.

February 9, 2011
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For most travelers, Muang Khoua is a brief stopping place to wait for a connecting bus or boat. None of the tourists we met had any inkling that the road and river pass through land still contaminated by UXO. The district hospital has few resources to treat victims of accidents.

Week One

Day Five:

We arrive in the town of Oudomxai about 4:30 PM, too late to chance making it to our ultimate destination, Muang Khoua, before dark. In addition to wanting the safety of daylight driving, we are worried that arriving in Muang Khoua late may leave us without a place to spend the night.

We find a nice clean guesthouse, claim two rooms, and then enjoy a quick dinner. Tired from bouncing over bad roads for two days, Yai and I turn in early. Oudomxai no doubt has its charms, but I’ve been through this market town and provincial capitol several times and have yet to discover them.

Day Six:

We’re up early to gas up the truck and hit the road. Fuel prices appear to be rising in proportion to the elevation of the surrounding mountains. The ridges that we’re now cresting are towering, and so are the prices. Still, we’re glad to be able to top off our tank. Glad, too, that we’re running on diesel. Diesel in this part of the world is cheaper than petrol and much less likely to be watered down or contaminated.

By noon we are in Muang Khoua.

Muang Khoua is at the junction of the main east to west road in the province, and the Ou River, a major thoroughfare running mostly north and south. Many tourists overnight in Muang Khoua. Those who arrive by boat at night leave by bus at the crack of dawn; those who arrive by bus board boats for early morning departures. The few guesthouses in town are usually full of travelers, few of whom see much of Muang Khoua during daylight hours.

We check out several guesthouses and find that they are all cut from the same cloth. Since most of the travelers coming through here stay just a single night, hostel owners have no incentive to provide services that will impress guests. Accommodations here are such that it is not prideful to say, “By gum, I’ve got the money and I’m going to stay in the best place in town.”

We spend the rest of the day making courtesy calls to the district governor, the police, and the hospital.

The hospital stop is essential for two reasons: we need to learn where in the district most accidents with UXO have occurred, and we need to appraise the level of available medical services in case we come upon an accident victim. Sadly, nothing has changed at the district hospital since last year: no ambulance, no blood, no oxygen, and no surgical theater. The closest hospital with those luxuries is in Oudomxai, the city we stayed in last night, now a five-hour drive behind us. Should an accident occur, lives will be in the hands of our medic, with the prospect of only limited help from the staff at the district hospital.

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