DK doctor operating for free in Burundi
05. feb. 2013 13.14 EnglishPeter Bech Larsen is nearly 74 years old, but instead of enjoying his golden years at home after many years of service, he has joined Doctors Without Borders and currently works as an unpaid volunteer at a medical clinic in Burundi, treating local women with the unpleasant cervical condition, urogenital fistula.
The disease can cause urinary incontinence and, in severe cases, faecal incontinence. The condition is caused by difficult and lengthy childbirths, which causes fistulas, abnormal connections in the tissue, to appear in the abdominal area.
Bech Larsen is just one of many doctors presently stationed in Burundi to teach the local physicians how to treat patients with fistula.
“No, I don’t do it for the money. Actually, I’m not getting paid at all, but this is the type of work where you see wonderful results because you help these young women out of a dreadful situation and on to normal, healthy lives,” Bech Larsen told DR News.
Investigative programme 21 Søndag was invited to Burundi in connection with the televised fundraising show Danmarks Indsamling.