We did almost 14 200km in 19 days.
We arrived to Kirgistan according to our plan – on the 29th of June. Of course we did have some small difficulties during our journey. It turned out that check-in at the Latvian-Russian border was much more time-consuming than we expected. Apart from the queue, it took 25 hours to check in the car carrying veterinary equipment!
We worked mostly in the regions of Alay and Chong-Alay (Daroot-Korgol) in the south of the country and west of Bishkek, towards Kara-Balta.
The reality was far from what we expected. Our main goal was to train veterinarians and to promote mass dogs sterilizations (including those mobile ones). But we quickly understood that the needs are much bigger and unfortunately more basic that we thought. We taught them about surgical cleanliness, simple stitches and how to use an autoclave. The interest in what we present was enormous.
It turned out that in those clinics that we have been to, there is no running water, no disposable needles (they have to boil a needle before using it) and what is most important – doctors don’t have access to many basic medicines. It’s really hard to imagine how difficult is to decide about treatment if you have to work in such conditions.
Unfortunately, the facts we heard about in the seminar "The role of stray dog populations in the spread of echinococcosis among the population" turned out to be much sadder. There are about 6 million people in Kyrgyzstan and every year 800 of them have to be hospitalized because of echinoccosis. For comparison in Poland, according to the latest statistics, from the 38 million population only 80 people get sick every year. And what is the most heart breaking – children are most likely to get sick. Many of them cannot be rescued.
It was an honor to meet the Minister of Agriculture, Food Economy and Land Reclamation of Kyrgyzstan – Mr. Nurbek Murashev. During the meeting we presented our proposals for further cooperation, suggestions for changes that we believe should take place in order to make doctors' work easier and more effective. In recognition of his commitment and hard work, our colleague Dr. Daniel Figiel was awarded a medal of the Minister of Agriculture, Food Economy and Land reclamation of Kyrgyzstan.
Before we left, we discussed our further activities because, as it turns out, it is ONLY THE VERY BEGINNING of our cooperation and help to Kyrgyzstan.
- Our plans for the next few months
- To establish a foundation aimed at education, spaying and neutering of cats and dogs, and improvement of epizootic safety of humans and animals
- To finance the arrival and training of at least one veterinarian from Kyrgyzstan. Preparation of this doctor so that after his return he can further train others
- Active support in the development of effective methods to combat echinococcosis in humans - an educational programme for people from those regions that are under the biggest threat
Of course, in spring/summer we are going to Kyrgyzstan once again to conduct trainings on spaying and neutering, to share our knowledge and experience.
Looking further ahead we want to create a ’Mobile Education Town’ which could be transported to different parts of Kyrgyzstan every few months. This Mobile Education Town could be used to educate local veterinarians to diagnose and control echinococcosis, and also to practice spaying and neutering of dogs.
All this to improve the quality of life and safety of people and animals in Kyrgyzstan!
In daily life we often complain about our living conditions and difficulties that we have to face everyday. But after visiting Kyrgyzstan we are sure about one thing – we don’t have many things to complain about!
Let’s make use of it and do something good for others.