Three months ago, 45-year-old Aziz ul Hassan was cutting wood when his electric saw slipped and sliced into his right hand. The father-of-six was bleeding profusely and in severe pain, but was unable to leave his home because it was raining heavily. He bandaged the wound to try to stop the bleeding and waited for three hours until the rain stopped.
Aziz was then carried on his bed by six people for 45 minutes along steep and narrow mountain paths to Merlin’s field clinic in Sarli Sacha – the only health facility in the area. By the time he arrived in the early evening, he was barely conscious.
Serious cases like this would normally be referred to a hospital in Muzaffarabad city, which involves a four-hour journey, first on foot and then by car. But due to the monsoon rains, the road had been flooded, making access to the city impossible.
Merlin’s medical team, who are on call for emergencies 24 hours a day, were immediately mobilised. Medical Officer Dr Rasheed Ahmed first removed the bandage and found a deep lacerated wound which was open and unclean. “His wound was so deep you could almost see his tendons,” recalls Dr Ahmed. “He was getting paler and paler, and his fingers were turning blue. My first priority was to stop the bleeding.” The wound was cleaned and Aziz was given anaesthesia, antibiotics, intravenous fluids and a tetanus injection. Within half an hour, the bleeding stopped.
After Dr Ahmed stitched up the wound, Aziz was admitted to the inpatient ward at the clinic and was monitored throughout the night. The next morning, he was well enough to walk home. Aziz returned to the clinic for 16 follow-up appointments over the next month and received medication alongside physiotherapy to help him regain movement in his hand.
Today, Aziz has full use of three fingers and some movement in his thumb and index finger, and has been able to return to work as a technician to support his family. During a visit to the clinic for physiotherapy, Aziz says Dr Ahmed saved his life. “There was no road access to Muzaffarabad so I would not have been able to get to hospital,” says Aziz. “If Merlin was not here, I would not be here today because I would have bled to death.”
Aziz is one of more than 9,400 patients who have attended the Sarli Sacha clinic since it was set up by Merlin in November 2005. Merlin’s team works alongside staff from the Ministry of Health, providing the only health care services for a catchment population of around 14,000 people.