By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
THE Tanzanian medical centre was one room in the middle of nowhere.
The tiny building, known as Daraja Mbili, had no running water and regular power outages.
It was here that 35-year-old volunteer paramedic Melinda Robinson, from Narre Warren North, worked to treat ill and pregnant Africans who had nowhere else to turn.
“In October last year I volunteered in Tanzania for one month and was blown away by the conditions in which they worked,” Melinda said.
“The clinic I was working in was simply a building with no running water and limited electricity due to daily power outages.
“Their resources were so limited that they would perform HIV test without wearing gloves so as to save the gloves for delivering babies.
“When a baby was born the rim of the glove was used to clamp the cord. Skin was not cleaned or swabbed with an alcohol wipe prior to immunisations being administered.”
Despite these conditions Melinda gave credit to the Tanzanian health care workers who continued to work as hard as they could in these incredibly restrictive conditions.
To further help these doctors and their patients Melinda will again be leaving for Africa in March for three months this time, in order to again help the sick in any way she can.
Her latest trip will see Melinda volunteer in both Uganda and Tanzania, where she will also spend time with the Tanzanian Flying Medical Service.
As part of the service Melinda will be flown into the desert where small village are scattered across the landscape and cut off from regular medical treatment.
“The Flying Medical Service takes volunteers with them to help – there are a lot of maternal health issues but we’re also on call for any emergency evacuations that are needed,” she said.
“There are a lot of Maasai villages, kind of equivalent to our (Australian) Indigenous people. We give them medical help they otherwise wouldn’t be getting.
“It’s pretty rewarding to be able to contribute to that.”
While some of the villages have pre-arranged sites to conduct medical procedures, Melinda admitted limited resources often saw operations carried out underneath the wind of an aeroplane – sometimes the only source of protection from the heat of the sun.
“You get a greater appreciation for the Australian health system,” Melinda said.
“Over there we work with such limited supplies, gloves, the little things we take for granted.
“We see kids still getting immunised over there and you’ve got to admire what the medical staff do.
“It’s so different when you see them working with limited supplies.”
In order for the African medical staff to be provided with more supplies and resources, Melinda will be holding a barbecue fundraiser at Woolworths in Endeavour Hills on Sunday 15 March.
So far she has raised raised $150 and is on the way to her $1000 target.
To donate to Melinda’s cause visit www.gofundme.com/m3x4dk, or email melrobinson26@icloud.com.
