Chulu’s Public Hospital v. Piura’s Private Hospital

Shortly after I went to the hospital in Chulucanas, I went to the hospital in Piura to get a mole checked (small, and no big deal). Having the images and the experience of the public hospital so fresh in my mind, walking into the private hospital literally took my breath away. I couldn’t believe how different the two are. Everything from the equipment to the facilities are brand new and very well kept, the staff is extremely helpful and available (I assume because they are not understaffed like the public hospital), and the services are plentiful. I decided to take pictures of both hospitals to illustrate just how stark the differences are.

#1: Available Services

 

 #2: Consult Rooms

So these are the consult rooms at both hospitals. In Chulu, the consult rooms only span one hallway (the orange picture). The other hallway is the rest of the hospital. I took that picture to show you all just how small the hospital is. Two hallways. One for consultations and the other for observations/in-patients. So the consult hallway in the public hospital in Chulu has two rooms for kids, two for men, two for women, one for nutrition, and one for the “specialty doctor”. In the previous picture you read that specialty doctors, like a GYN, only come on certain day(s) of the week. This is the room they use. They ALL use it. Whether you are checking hoohas or hearts or moles or whatever. They all have to use that one room.

In the private hospital, as you can see in the picture, the consult rooms are located in a HUGE building that is only maybe a third of the whole hospital. From where the picture is taken, I am standing at the opposite end in front of a bathroom looking at the consult rooms nearest me, the nurse station in the middle, more consult rooms, and the bathroom at the other end. The second picture (the picture on the bottom right) is the emergency room area which also contains consult rooms in addition to shock trauma and observation rooms.

#3:  Emergency ROOM(s)


These are pictures of each hospital’s emergency room(s). In the public hospital, the emergency room is just a room on the main hallway. You can see the front doors at the end of the hallway. As I said in my first real blog entry about the hospital, the emergency room is just that, ONE room with ONE examination table. Unlucky if you happen to be the second emergency to arrive.

The private hospital has a whole building dedicated to emergency patients. They have a shock trauma room, where I witnessed 3 nurses attending to a patient while I was there. At no point did anyone have to leave to buy any medical supplies/medications. They rendered care as it was needed, and with the appropriate number of staff. The emergency building also has some consult rooms - like a cardiologist and an oncologist - to care specifically for emergency patients.

 #4: Emergency Observation Rooms and Bathrooms


Here we have the emergency observation rooms. Once you have been stabilized, you go here to be monitored. In Chulu, you will be sharing the room with 5 other people and all sharing one sink. You will also be reclining on questionable sheets. You will have access to one bathroom, that all the other patients in the hospital will be using as well. As you can see the bathroom in the public hospital consists of two bathrooms and one shower.

In the private hospital you only have to share a room with one other person, with whom you share one sink. There are bathrooms all over the hospital; there are two large bathrooms, one at each end, in the consult area (picture #2) and there is another large bathroom in the emergency building.

The real problem with the public hospital is not the lack of space but the abundance of mosquitoes. During the summer months especially, there are hoards of mosquitoes which are not only annoying, but a serious health risk to all the patients and staff because Dengue Fever is a huge problem here in Chulu. Many people go to the hospital when they get Dengue (also called Bone Breaking Disease), so just one sick person could start an epidemic. Only recently did the hospital have funds to purchase mosquito nets for all of the beds. It’s a start anyway.

#5: Cafeterias


I mentioned in my last blog update that the public hospital doesn’t have a cafeteria. Well, here it is. What their cafeteria used to be, anyway. Looks like even when it was functioning it wasn’t much to shake a stick at.
A stark contrast to the very well kept and well stocked cafeteria in the private hospital. Complete with places to sit and enjoy your food and everything!

That’s it!

Hope you enjoyed your tour :)