If She was Rich, She Would Probably Be Dead by Now!

It was 9.00 o’clock in the morning. My mobile phone rang. I took the call and said ‘Naam!’. Naam is a Swahili word which when loosely translated is equivalent to ‘hello’.

‘I was given your phone number by……..’ The man on the other end did mention a name but I have forgotten it.

‘Okay. What can I do for you?’ I replied.

‘We have a kidney patient. She is admitted at Muhimbili at the moment. The hospital says she must undergo dialysis on weekly basis but we don’t have the money and the patient doesn’t have medical insurance. The guy who gave us your number accidentally found out about our situation and decided to help. He says you are a renowned alternative medicine practitioner and you will be able to help us!’ The guy explained enthusiastically. Note: Muhimbili is short for Muhimbili National Hospital. It is the biggest hospital in Tanzania.

I wanted to tell him that he was mistaken but I didn’t have the heart to do it. From his tone it was clear that they did pin all their hopes on me. I told him to come and see me when they get a hospital discharge and gave him the address. As I said that I hoped fervently that they will not turn up. You see, I did not know how to cure kidney disease. Although it was true that I had (I still have) a license to practice alternative medicine, this was the first time I was asked to treat a kidney patient.

Not knowing exactly what to do, I shoved the issue out of my mind and focused on other issues. It was 3.00 in the afternoon when I raised my head to look out side my office door. My office is located at the back of a building. However, the door faces off the street some thirty of forty meters away. The sight that greeted my eyes had me shocked. Four people were heading towards my office – three women and one man. One of the women was carried on the back of the man. I was speechless!

Slowly they approached my office and entered. My office had only a few ordinary chairs and no coach. The man placed the woman she was carrying on the floor and sat on one of the chairs. The other two women also sat down. The woman on the floor was whimpering all the time, giving the impression that she was facing severe pain or discomfort.

‘You are doctor Juma?’ The man asked. Without waiting for my reply, he continued while pointing at the woman on the floor.

‘That is the patient I told you about over the phone. Her name is Rehema. We are all siblings here. These two are also my sisters, but Rehema is the youngest. The doctors at Muhimbili say she needs dialysis. They say she must have her blood cleansed at least once per week otherwise she won’t survive. Our biggest problem is the cost. A single session we were told will cost 450,000.00 Tanzanian shillings. Our family is poor and our sister doesn’t have medical insurance’. Note: At the time 1 US$ was equivalent to 2,277.00 Tanzania shillings. Accordingly, 450,000.00 Tanzania shillings were equivalent to 197.6 US!

‘Did you get a discharge?’ I asked.

‘No. We sneaked her out!’ the man replied.

I started shaking internally. ‘If this woman dies in here, I would be in serious trouble!’ I thought. While arresting me the police might even beat me up! I knew the media would love the story but will maliciously distort the facts. Me and my colleagues in the alternative medicine industry would be called all sorts of derogatory names! As the sensation of the story spread, the magistrate might even refuse to grant me bail. Essentially, I would be condemned and sentenced before the trio even starts!

The world is not fair at all. All hospitals essentially must have a building dedicated to housing the dead! They call these buildings mortuary or morgue. Almost all the dead in these building are patients who were undergoing treatment at these hospitals. However, nobody questions their deaths. It is as if dying in a hospital is one’s right!

I decided to get rid of the people in front of me fast. Although I had never dealt with a kidney patient before, from the perspective of alternative medicine I had an idea of how I could approach the matter. From my cupboard I took out four packets of a product we call Haiiba Timam Tea. The four packets were enough for one month. Among other things this tea is very good at stimulating urinating. I just thought that this might help since one of the biggest issues with a kidney patient is that he/she cannot pass urine, because the ailing kidney can’t filter the blood.

I also knew that a kidney patient mostly needed an alkaline diet because more often than not, kidney disease is caused by excessive acidity in the body. I wrote a prescription of things that would be needed to prepare the patient’s diet and handed it to Rehema’s brother. When they left, I let out a sigh of relief. If she dies out there nobody would be able to pin it on me, I reassured myself.

Do you believe in God? I hope you do because God is truly great and can correct any situation. Three weeks from the day Rehema was brought to my office her brother called. My heart skipped a beat and I braced myself to hear the bad news. I assumed her brother called me to tell me that she was dead. Surprise! Instead, in an excited voice the brother told me that Rehema was healed and wanted to go back to the village. I was dumbfounded! Rehema is healed? I could not believe my ears. But then I remembered God and his unlimited ability. I remembered that we will die, turn into dust but one day God will resurrect us. Surely one who can resurrect us from mere dust can heal a kidney, no?

I told the brother to get Rehema thank God because he is the one who healed her. This incident happened some seven years ago. Up to now Rehema is still free of any kidney problems. Since then, I have had the opportunity to deal with a few more kidney cases. In all these cases I just repeated what I did with Rehema. It worked! Last year out of nowhere Rehema called me and said that she had a small gift for me. She urged me to accept it although it was indeed small but that was all she could afford. I told her not to worry. A few minutes later my mobile phone gave a notification and when I looked at it, I found out that Rehema had sent to me 5,000.00 Tanzania shillings. At last year’s exchange rate that was equivalent to 2.30 US! It was indeed small but just picture the bigness of the heart that gave it.