This is a picture of a railway and Belhar Train Station, just outside the University of Western Cape, where people either embark or disembark in a train. “Life is a long train ride. At stations along the way, people board and alight but some travel along till the end. You observe the changes in scenery – from green fields to rocky mountains: but the window you look through is always the same. At different points of the journey the train switches its path, only to stay on track and reach the destination” (Swaminathan, 2018). This post will unfold how a patient views the South African health system, looking at the health system as the train and the patient as the passenger in this train.
“There is always light at the end of the tunnel,” is a popular saying. When a train goes through a tunnel, it gets dark. This darkness represents a portion of rude and negligent nurses, depression and thanatophobia – the fear of dying- in patients. The public hospitals in South Africa usually have dirty, peeling off walls, a casualty filled with injured people (that might not even be helped until after a several hours) because of staff shortage or no beds available. This state of the hospital is haunting and adds to the feelings of despair.
In relation to Physiotherapy, some patients are told they will never be able to return to full function again, while some get the rehabilitation that they need and go home. The period between the date of admission and getting rehabilitation tends to be stressful because they never know what to expect at the end. Unfortunately for the patient, the health system sometimes does not offer full rehabilitation, they discharge patients earlier due to bed shortages, this then hinders the healing process of the patient. The patients are left to carry out activities at home for their own benefit without the help of any health professional.
The Department of Health does not employ adequate number of staff members leading to staff shortage. (Murphy and von Holdt, 2007) interviewed a nurse from one of the hospitals in South Africa that attested to the previous statement, “We do not give quality patient care. Now I am alone in the ward, it means I am unable to prevent certain things happening. The results is complications, wound sepsis, longer hospital stays.” According to (Skosana, 2014), nurses change their attitudes based on the sectors they work in. Nurses in a private sector tend to be nicer and more accommodating to patients compared to nurses in the public sector, which leads to the suffering of the lower to middle class patients.
In conclusion, being in a hospital is not a pleasant thing especially because the health system fails the patients all the time by not offering proper health care. Through all the challenges and emotional imbalance that patients face in South Africa, they do reach their destinations, some earlier than others.
References
- Skosana, T. (2014). Nurses need a positive attitude towards the work they do irrespective of the sector they practice in. Nursing Update, (9), p.24.
- Swaminathan, K. (2018). Life is a long train ride. [image] Available at: https://images.app.goo.gl/2KjacnHk5aVRAU246 [Accessed 28 Jun. 2019].
- von Holdt, K., and Murphy, M. (2005). Public hospitals in South Africa: stressed instituitions, disempowered management. In S. Buhlungu (Ed.), State of the nation (pp. 312). Cape Town: HSRC Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.za/books?id=VZvma2zVuqAC&lpg=PA312&ots=meNVzfR1Ho&dq=state%20of%20south%20african%20public%20hospitals&lr&pg=PA312#v=onepage&q&f=false
One thought on “A journey that needs to be travelled – Naledi Pram”
This is a good assignment. The main text and picture support each other well and reflect the topic of the assignment. The last paragraph could be more connected to the rest of the text, perhaps with a transition from the main text to the academic part, or by explaining how the shortage of staff is relevant to the journey that needs to be travelled, or sum up the text with a conclusion. Remember to cite the quotes in your text. Some of your sentences are a bit long, dividing them might give the text a better flow when reading.
Overall I think you have written a good description of how patients might look at your health system.