Mambo! My name is Lara. I’m a medical student from Germany in my fourth year of med school, and I am in Mombasa, Kenya, for a two-week elective at Coast General Hospital.
Before coming here I was a bit concerned, I’d say, because I came on my own, so I didn’t know if I would make friends, if I would meet a lot of people, or how everything would work out. But after one or two days everything was totally fine. I got to meet a lot of people whose company I really enjoy, and we do a lot of stuff inside and outside of the hospital. The staff at the hospital are very, very kind.
I didn’t really know what the healthcare system would be like in Kenya, so I didn’t have a lot of expectations, and I didn’t really know what I was about to see. I had also never been to maternity before – that was the first department I stayed in, for one week. Next week I will go to the emergency department so that I can get different insights from different departments. I really got to see a lot: a few C-sections and natural deliveries, and I learned quite a lot in this one week in the hospital.
In general, I’d say the healthcare system in Kenya is very different from the one I know from Germany. The resources are different, the methods are different, and the ways of communication between the staff, but also with the patients, are different. It was very interesting to get an insight into all of that and to understand the healthcare system in a different country, so that I can maybe learn something from it and use it in my own medical career in Germany.
We also do a lot of things outside of the hospital. We went to Diani, we went to the beach, we went to Old Town and to some spice markets, so we really get to explore the city and meet new people. It’s just a lot of fun to be here and have these experiences.
If you are a medical student thinking about doing an elective in Kenya, I would definitely recommend doing this elective, just to get an insight into the healthcare system in Kenya. It’s very different from the one I know from Germany, and it’s very interesting to see how the staff work with the resources they have here, how the communication works and what the routines are. It’s quite different from what we are used to, but very interesting to see how everything works out in a different country. It’s also very nice to meet a lot of people, talk to them and hear their stories. So personally, I would definitely recommend doing an elective in Kenya.
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