The politicians are fighting in SA. Well, fighting for votes. Zuma is likely to win this fight. Having escaped corruption charges to be able to officially enter the ring. It's a scary thing. It's great to be in a foreign country for elections. A chance to witness the culture of voting. I've been in Mexico during a national election-where alcohol sales are banned for 24 hours before, the day of, and 24 hours after the election. Of course, I was in Ireland during elections. And now to be here. The ANC is going to win this election. This is the party of Mandela. A party which has brought good changes: lots of housing, and basic essential to those most marginalized by Apartheid. But it also is the party of Mbeki, the present of SA who is directly responsible for killing (murdering, genocide...) some 300,000 men, women, and children. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7716128.stm) Way to go ANC! In SA, the president is not elected by the people. The president is basically appointed by the party which has the largest majority in government. South Africa faces lots of issues presently, and even more serious issues in the near future, and it is electing a future president who has been tried for rape (and then "showered" afterwards so he didn't get HIV), and who just barely escaped corruption charges. Oh, and a president whose formal education stopped at Grade 6. (Not to point fingers, as one must wonder when GWB's education really stopped). Anyway, its been appalling to me that the ANC is going to win such a victory. But my perspective changed a bit last weekend when Andrew and I visited Lillieslief farm. Seeing the room that the then-leaders of the ANC used to coordinate efforts to rid SA of Apartheid, the room where Mandela slept as he lived under the guise of a hired hand on the farm-even making and serving lunches, the videos of how horrible people were treated during Apartheid, and it made me realize why so many of the people will vote for the ANC...
The Doctors are fighting in SA. I attended a meeting yesterday about the possible upcoming strike. Doctors have been in negotiations regarding, mainly, salaries, but also general conditions in hospitals. And they are on the brink of strike because of the lack or progress in negotiations. And in fact, north of Jo'burg, some doctors in hospitals went on strike today. I struggle with this, as I think it's almost deplorable for doctors to strike. To abandon patient care, to me, is against the moral fiber of the duty we have to our jobs, our patients. Patients suffer. The impending strike is complex. The public sector is very understaffed, there is little motivation to work in the public sector. The work load is heavier. The patients-I think-are sicker. The services that can be provided are restricted. The conditions in public hospitals are shitty compared to the private hospitals. And, of course, the pay is less. Much less. I will earn more money next year when I return to my residency salary, than does AK-the head of infectious disease here at Bara. A man who is a silent hero in Soweto. A man who started the ID/HIV clinic 20 years ago. The man who I am sure spent this national holiday today working most the day at home researching topics, writing papers. Taken in context, thought, student debt is very low, cost of living is low, and doctors do well, financially. But there is a drain from the public sector to the private sector due to the low pay. So it's tough. There needs to be a way to provide a larger incentive for doctors to want to keep working in the public sector.. I am hard pressed to think that a strike is the best way to force changes in this area.
We had our ID grand round, where we go to the bedside of a patient who is being seen by the ID service. And we examine and discuss the medical condition of a 26 year old woman from "Mozambique" who is hospitalized for an enlarged spleen. The spleen is a small organ, under your left rib cage which is involved in blood and infection processes. Sometimes it gets large, and you can then feel the spleen as it creeps past the rib cage. But with this woman, her spleen went down to her waist level. It is absolutely MASSIVE. But she's a total mystery. The enlarged spleen isn't the main mystery, the patient herself is. She showed up to the hospital with a note from a doctor in Mozambique asking for her to be assessed and treated for her enlarged spleen. But nobody has been able to communicate with this woman. No English. No Zulu. No Portuguese. No Xhosa. No Sesotho. No Tsonga or Tswana. No French. No Spanish (I tried). No Amharic. No Swahili. But what amazes me, is that this woman, on her own, made it from Mozambique to SOWETO, to see a doctor. Who knows where she is really from... She's basically fighting for access to medical care.
And I'm fighting fatigue.
Goodnight.
