Pain is not Prerequisite for Birth

Medicine continues to accept pain as a natural part of childbirth.

“What Makes Anaesthetists So Special?”

It is a well-known fact that anaesthetic doctors in South African public hospitals have guaranteed pre-call and post-call. The medical officers that I know from other surgical departments, all appreciate the reasons we insist on safe working hours. I have never heard them suggest it be taken away. But management staff and senior consultants (of

Train your trainees

Sometimes, I think clinicians forget that they were inexperienced and under-qualified juniors once, too. There is nothing admirable about learning to place an intercostal drain on YouTube, without senior supervision, as many of us like to brag.

General Practice and Emergency Med: A Bad Combination

Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been working semi-permanently for a private family practice. More recently, I’ve also started doing shifts in the emergency centres of both private and public hospitals. While doing each of these separately comes with their own challenges, doing them together has proven to be a demoralising combination, because they highlight

Global Day for Safe and Legal Abortions

These days, we are not meant to see women die from septic abortions. But that night, we did.

Are We Secretly Our Own Worst Enemies?

Maybe if we dropped some of those balls – dropped them so they clattered across the floors, and people stepped on them and tripped over them and they became a real nuisance – maybe then something would change. 

The Threat of Fun-employment

Applying for my first post-comserve job is a bit like the whole “what do I want to do when I grow up” crisis all over again.

Mental Health Begins With Medical Students

I really believe that a medical student who is comfortable with therapy, becomes a physician who is comfortable with therapy; one who is comfortable with addressing the mental health of their colleagues, and one who can identify when their own mental health is spiralling out of control – and then do something about it.

My Evolving Opinions About Doctors’ Working Hours

I started working on this post on two days. Since then, I have received news of a colleague who died in an accident while driving post-call. She went to my alma mater and graduated last year, and though I did not know her personally, my heart breaks. A country with a shortage of doctors has lost a young doctor who was just starting in her career. She was well-loved, and we will all feel her absence.

Threatened By The People We Serve

A few weeks ago, the community around one of the hospitals where I work picked up their torches and pitchforks (well, sort of) and protested again. I’ve written before about South Africa’s protest state of mind, and about working during a riot.