The Georges in Peru

Yesterday was our first day of seeing patients at the Dorcas Project since the government-mandated shut down last March!  We saw about 15 mothers and their babies.  The majority still come in having been told that their babies have hip dysplasia, something that normally has an incidence of 1/200 newborns, but here they tell almost everyone that their babies have it to sell them harnesses and other 'services'.  Not surprisingly, none of the babies I saw had hip dysplasia.  

Things were different from our normal clinics:  I had a gown that I could throw away at the end of the clinic.  Gloves make the constant hand washing (which we physicians should do even when there aren't pandemics!) more tolerable on the hands.  Mary Beth took all the notes on the patients from across the room to avoid contact.