Medicine Volunteer Stories, Sri Lanka

Medicine in Sri Lanka - Jackie Kopelman When I actually started my placement it wasn't as terrifying as that night was though. All the doctors were really friendly and keen to teach me. I started out in general medicine where I did ward rounds in both male and female wards, and I helped out in the clinics as well. Seeing how different the hospital was to any British hospitals really opened my eyes, especially after seeing a woman literally on the verge of death from dehydration just because she'd had diarrhoea for three days really made me think.

Medicine in Sri Lanka - Kurt Schapira My first experience at Panadura Base Hospital was walking into the admissions area and seeing about 100 people in a room that should hold about 25. And it would have been worse if I stood out and everyone was staring....yeah.... After that initial shock, then going into the wards and recovering from another shock, the hospital is actually quite pleasant. All of the doctors are willing to chat and the patients are alright with me doing examinations, so that was comforting.

Medicine in Sri Lanka - Chloe Paddock I was very lucky to have a lovely host family and a good group of other volunteers where I was based in Karapitiya (Galle). I originally went out with two friends from my course but met loads of other people out in Sri Lanka. For a start everyone in Sri Lanka is very friendly although you had to get used to everyone staring at you because you were white..but it's funny more than anything. The country is also beautiful and green and you get used to the very hot weather (I had to shower three times a day I swear), which is broken up with heavy falls of rain.

Medicine in Sri Lanka - Tom Goon One month on and I'm very pleased to report that I have loved my placement here. My host family is great, the people I live with have been really nice and my work in the physiotherapy department is challenging but very rewarding. A particular highlight has been how friendly everyone is - I've been fed all sorts of delicacies, taken out for drinks and even invited to a wedding.

Medicine in Sri Lanka - Alexandra Grundy As I scrambled my way through hundreds of Sri Lankan out-patients in my shiny new white coat, stethoscope around my neck, I was seriously dreading some poor mother thrusting her child into my arms and screaming "help my child, you're a doctor!" Sadly, I'm not and luckily this didn't happen!

Medicine in Sri Lanka - Mohit Singh Placed at the Nagoda General Hospital near Kalutara in May of this year, Mohit began to sit in on sessions with consultant psychiatrist Dr Wijesinghe. He immediately noticed that the most common reason for patients being referred here was attempted self-harm or suicide. Doing a little research, Mohit discovered that Sri Lanka has the highest suicide rate in all of Asia, with the female suicide rate being the highest in the world.