Usually it is impossible to save the shattered limbs. The villagers focus on keeping the victim alive. They also recognize that hospitals are not sterile places. Surgeons normally wash their hands in wooden buckets nurses have filled at nearby wells or streams. Holding on to trees, the nurses climb up and down narrow dirt paths, knowing that these same streams are used for patient bathing.
Families often take the responsibility of bringing water to their sick relatives.
The hospitals have no toilets, so as soon as patients are able to walk, they journey to a nearby field to relieve themselves. The Luang Namtha Hospital is the largest medical facility in its province. It has 60 beds but no running water and no toilets. Since 1994, ADRA relief staff and volunteers have been working with the Clean Water Department and hospital administration to supply this facility with running water. ADRA is deepening the existing well, installing a pump and engine nearby, and handling the plumbing.