A Heart for the Work

A Heart for the Work...Journeys through an African Medical School by Claire L. Wendland. I read this book for my Medical Anthropology class. I am not really a big fan of this subject. So I delayed reading the book a week before the review was due. I wish I hadn't because I liked the books. Although a little boring in the beginning, it picks up its momentum from the second chapter.

Claire Wendland asserts that despite the material and technological strain if you have A Heart for the Work then you can always find a silver lining and help your patients. Medicine is considered to be neutral and beyond any cultural influence. Wendland says, "If anything lends itself to globalization, medicine does (7)." The book is an argument on how cultural, political and economic factors affect the medical training and motivations of students.

The book fascinated and depressed me at the same time. The things I learnt were very unsettling. For instance, the medical books used in Malawi are the same as used in North America and Europe but many of the medical techniques showed in the books remain only theoretical concepts for the medical doctors in Malawi. Even if they prescribe a drug or a test, they lack the resources to provide the patients with the help they need.

With students transitioning into clinical years, they experience anger and resentment against their government. They are demoralized by the workload and the lack of resources in the hospital and forced to compromise with their own ethics. Facts like doctors earn a lot and patient privacy is of highest concern are not true in Malawi. Also, a lack of protective equipments such as gloves and masks puts the doctors at risk of infection from blood and other body fluids. The students are frustrated because they are "charged to heal yet unable to do so (133)". The word resource is just a verb for them.

I think Wendland did a commendable job describing the situations that affect the personal values of medical students in Malawi. Her manner of ending each chapter with a subject story kept me intrigued throughout the book. At last, I agree with Wendland that biomedicine is influenced by culture and the studies done in the North does not represent the situations worldwide.