Pattern of referral of sick Omani pilgrims from Omani medical mission during hajj 2019 (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Annually, in the month of Dhul hijjah, over 2 million Muslims travel to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj. Hajj is the biggest mass gathering globally, which creates a significant influence on Hajjes' health. The Omani medical mission is the official delegation from the Omani government to Saudi Arabia to serve the Omani hajjees regarding their health issues. OBJECTIVE This study investigates the referral rate and pattern of diseases among hajjees referred by the Omani medical mission during Hajj 1440 H. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional study at the Omani Medical missions in Makkah, Madinah, Mina, and Arafat. Data was collected via a predesigned form. All Omani pilgrims presenting to the mission who were referred to local hospitals were included. RESULTS The total number of cases was 5000, of which 106 (2.1%) were referred to local hospitals (21.2 per 1000 hajjees). The most common causes of referral were cardiovascular diseases (23.6%), followed by gastrointestinal disease (17.9%) and trauma (16.9%). Males comprised 60.1%. Their mean age was 47.3 years (SD ±11.27), with the highest referrals in the 51-60 years age group (30%). Over half (55.7%) had co-morbidities. Patients' mean time to reach the clinic was 8.87 min (SD ±6.41), with 65% arriving in 5 min or less. The mean time needed to reach the hospital by ambulance was 11.39 min (SD ±6.6), with 36% arriving within 5 min. Of the referrals, 42% were admitted into hospital. Hospitalization was significantly higher among patients with chest pain (P-value < 0.0057), diabetics (P-value < 0.0001), and patients with Heart Disease (P-value = 0.013). CONCLUSIONS The most common causes for referral of Hajjees from the Omani Medical Mission were cardiovascular diseases, gastrointestinal disease, and trauma. This information should assist the Omani government in planning their medical services in hajj season in future years.

New Zealand Medical Missions in South China – Ko Tong Hospital in the Kirk Years, 1896-1917

<p>During the rainy season of 1909, the first hospital of Western medicine opened to the public in the bustling market town of Ko Tong, Upper Panyu, China. Po Wai Yiyuen, or ‘The Hospital of Universal Love’, was a medical missionary endeavour of the Canton Villages Mission (CVM) of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand, the only mission to China from any New Zealand church. This thesis presents the first in-depth biographical and institutional study of the CVM’s medical mission, from its conception in 1898 until the closure of its first temporary hospital at Ko Tong in 1917. The thesis argues that the trajectory of the CVM’s medical mission closely followed that of earlier medical missions in a crucial era for the presence and development of Western medicine in China. It also shows how local Cantonese responses to the medical mission in Ko Tong were complex and highly pragmatic. The study highlights the importance of relationships between returned New Zealand Chinese miners and medical missionaries. It argues that, despite numerous setbacks, the CVM’s medical mission under the leadership of Dr. John Kirk achieved a level of stability and purpose it would struggle to find again. Unlike much scholarship in New Zealand Chinese history, this research does not focus on the Chinese in New Zealand. Rather, it analyses the work and interactions of Western medical missionaries of the New Zealand Presbyterian Church active in China. A study of this kind draws on and contributes to histories of missions, medicine in China, and New Zealand-China interactions. The thesis’ three chapters contextualise the medical mission within the pre-existing Protestant missionary movement and medical missionary movement in China, consider how local Cantonese in Ko Tong viewed the ‘foreign doctor’ in their midst, and finally, analyse the influence and leadership of Dr. John Kirk, the hospital’s main superintendent. It does this by examining mission policy, the hospital’s medical care standards, and Kirk’s involvement in medical education. This research utilises primary sources from the Presbyterian Church Archives of New Zealand, highlighting an immensely rich and varied body of archival resources, which has remained largely untapped by historians.</p>

New Zealand Medical Missions in South China – Ko Tong Hospital in the Kirk Years, 1896-1917

<p>During the rainy season of 1909, the first hospital of Western medicine opened to the public in the bustling market town of Ko Tong, Upper Panyu, China. Po Wai Yiyuen, or ‘The Hospital of Universal Love’, was a medical missionary endeavour of the Canton Villages Mission (CVM) of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand, the only mission to China from any New Zealand church. This thesis presents the first in-depth biographical and institutional study of the CVM’s medical mission, from its conception in 1898 until the closure of its first temporary hospital at Ko Tong in 1917. The thesis argues that the trajectory of the CVM’s medical mission closely followed that of earlier medical missions in a crucial era for the presence and development of Western medicine in China. It also shows how local Cantonese responses to the medical mission in Ko Tong were complex and highly pragmatic. The study highlights the importance of relationships between returned New Zealand Chinese miners and medical missionaries. It argues that, despite numerous setbacks, the CVM’s medical mission under the leadership of Dr. John Kirk achieved a level of stability and purpose it would struggle to find again. Unlike much scholarship in New Zealand Chinese history, this research does not focus on the Chinese in New Zealand. Rather, it analyses the work and interactions of Western medical missionaries of the New Zealand Presbyterian Church active in China. A study of this kind draws on and contributes to histories of missions, medicine in China, and New Zealand-China interactions. The thesis’ three chapters contextualise the medical mission within the pre-existing Protestant missionary movement and medical missionary movement in China, consider how local Cantonese in Ko Tong viewed the ‘foreign doctor’ in their midst, and finally, analyse the influence and leadership of Dr. John Kirk, the hospital’s main superintendent. It does this by examining mission policy, the hospital’s medical care standards, and Kirk’s involvement in medical education. This research utilises primary sources from the Presbyterian Church Archives of New Zealand, highlighting an immensely rich and varied body of archival resources, which has remained largely untapped by historians.</p>

Slow Disturbance: Infrastructural Mediation on the Settler Colonial Resource Frontier

This article reviews Rafico Ruiz’s Slow Disturbance, which presents a strong analysis of the temporal dimensions of infrastructure and the resource frontier through the case of the Grenfell Mission in Newfoundland and Labrador, an evangelical Protestant medical mission. Ruiz highlights infrastructure as ongoing relational processes that are also media productions and is especially attuned to how relationships are oriented around the repair and maintenance of infrastructure in order to create the resource frontier.

How counterterrorism throws back wartime medical assistance and care to pre-Solferino times

Domestic counterterrorism (CT) frameworks have been increasingly employed to criminalize impartial medical care to wounded and sick from non-State armed groups labelled as criminal or terrorist in non-international armed conflicts (NIACs). It has also contributed to legitimize attacks and incidental damage on medical facilities in armed conflicts overlooking the international humanitarian law (IHL) protection afforded to the wounded and sick as well as to medical personnel and facilities. This article compares the treatment of the wounded and sick in both international armed conflicts (IACs) and NIACs in the context of the global war on terrorism. It demonstrates the impacts that CT measures have on the IHL protection of the medical mission while demonstrating the increased acceptance that some incidental damages, such as the downgrading of IHL core protections, are tolerated, by some countries in the global fight against terrorism. The article further illustrates how the special criminal status of wounded and sick from non-State armed groups in armed conflicts that are evolving in a CT context can mechanically contaminate the status of impartial humanitarian medical activities, facilities and personnel in such contexts. It also shows how the simultaneous application of CT and IHL in numerous contexts of armed conflict as well as the involvement of State armed forces under those two different bodies of law contributes to blurring the lines between IHL and CT, between protected or “criminal” humanitarian and medical activities. In contexts of complex military operations, this reality creates a mind-set conducive to legal mistakes and security incidents on the medical mission. Although there is a distinction between the protection from attacks and the protection from prosecution under IHL, in practice, numerous military operations to arrest are launched in ways similar to attacks and can end up with some killings. The article concludes that States could easily limit the impact of CT on IHL by adding an exemption in their CT framework for humanitarian and medical assistance that is compatible with IHL. This is the first necessary condition – even if obviously not a sufficient one – to end the legal ambiguity between IHL and State domestic law as to the criminalization or loss of the IHL protected status for the much necessary needed medical assistance and care activities in times of armed conflict that are evolving in a CT context.

Key Points on Short Term Medical Mission International organization on Orofacial cleft

Background: Children suffering from congenital facial malformations in underdeveloped countries are the main objective of the STMMIs with the aim of easing their lives. Clarós Foundation (CF) has carried out 115 missions worldwide with the aim, among others, of treating patients with this type of orofacial cleft malformation. We think that the experience we have acquired in this field can be transmitted to new NGOs institutions that want or wish to continue in this line. The optimization of the use of means and human resources, both from the NGO and the local health workers, will make it possible to achieve greater outcomes and results when applied in the development of Short Term Medical Mission International (STMMIs) missions. Material and Methods: We present the experience CF has acquired throughout the various STMMIs it has accomplished, during a period of 7 days each, specifying the details of its organization, patient selection, preparation of the surgery and its performance, in a well- organized manner to be fast, effective and safe in its results. During each of the 115 missions, the medical team has treated patients with this congenital pathology, in different proportions that go from 90% of the total cases to only 10% of the patients attended. The surgical techniques applied are those used in our medical center in Barcelona, which we may say, are the state-of-the-art surgical techniques used by the most advancedcenters. Results: A total of 1725 patientsunderwent surgery throughout 115 STMMIs, averageduration of 7 days each,115 STMMIs by 15 cases average. During this time 925 patients were operated for cleft lip and 800 patients for cleft palate. Male patients accounted for 58% and female for 42%. According to the age of the patients we found that the majority of cases were operated on babies 68.35% (1.179 neonatal period); 20.2% on children (300 cases) and (19.76%) adolescents (233 cases); and 1.10% adults in the 20-67 age range (13 cases). Of the total number of operated patients(1.725), there have been few immediate and late postoperative complications, but we estimate them at 11%. Conclusion: International cooperation between experienced NGOs and local medical teams turn out to be much more effective, less expensive and with better clinical results than those obtained without this collaboration. This organizational model can be very useful in order to know the details that these missions entail and apply them in your own activities.

About malaria

During the work of the German Medical Mission in Russia, we could be convinced that issues related to malaria are of particular interest among our Russian comrades.