Azmera was homeless and abandoned.  What uniform is she wearing now??

By Rick Hodes, MD

One day in 2005, I was walking across the grounds of Gondar Medical College Hospital when a local doctor came to me. “Dr. Rick,” he said, “can I show you a patient?” “Sure,” I replied, “what do you have?

He took me to the pediatric ward and said to me, “This is Azmera. She  lives here. She was abandoned  3 years ago.” I looked at her and saw her V-shaped back. “This should be TB of the spine, yes?” I asked. “We think so,” he replied. He showed me her x-ray, confirming TB. It had the telltale destruction of a back bone, turning a rectangle into a triangle. I sat, took a medical history, and examined Azmera.