This is an assignment which is using an illustrative meaning of how Patients in south Africa view the health system in south Africa. It compares the life crisis of patient being admitted in hospitals in south Africa symbolizes their views and feelings in close relation with the sun.
The health system in south Africa is in many respect different from other health system in the world, yet it does not present so broken to the point of no return, this is due to some several factors such as that south Africa is a developing country with low economic status meaning its underdeveloped and the governmental systems and other systems are also underdeveloped. Many people especially the Christians symbolizes the sun as a symbol of hope, life, strengthen, energy, power and rebirth. However on the other hand it is a symbol of light where everything good or bad is placed out into the open it exposes everything.
The rising sun in the morning for many people represent hope, a new day, not just a day but a good day, no Matter what were your problems the previous day you tend to forget them because it is a new day. This is the same feeling patients experience when the arrive in the hospital in case of medical emergency when they are still in shock and fear about their well being then suddenly when they arrive to the hospital it represent hope, a new day and a fighting strength, so as the sun represent life this is the exact moment where patient feel like the can be healed and be back to their daily lives again with their loved ones, it is a symbol of power often times when patients arrive to the hospital they feel weak more than that afraid and terrified for their lives but immediately when the health professionals start treating them they regain their power physically and both spiritually. Several of many patient cases in hospital where patients experience a near death experience, they tend to speak more about how the are given a second chance in life and that they are born again, meaning that they reborn which is they’re rebirth in such a way that they change their previous ways which are wrong and unjust and they start doing good.
However the is another side in this matter, thus meaning not all patients view or feels the same way about health system in south Africa,. If one has had the privilege of watching the sun goes down than when its sets one will understand the difference. When the sun goes down it represent an era of total despair, abandonment, not being safe, death and being trapped. Patients admitted to hospitals often feel despair that they are separated from their families because some of them are mothers, fathers or might I say the core of the family and now they are forced to separate from them so they loss and despair. Abandonment, patients tend to feel like hospitals is the place of being abandoned like the family can not deal with you anymore so they abandon you to the hospital where you can be far from them. feeling unsafe is one feeling that patients cannot ignore about our health system, they feel like the working staff do not care or show empathy to them so they ill treat them and somehow the working staff is ignorant and because of these reasons they don’t feel safe. It is said that when the sun goes down the darkness set’s and with darkness individual often feel trapped reason being fear, this is the same way how patients view being in hospital they fear for their lives and they feel trapped.
The one last thing about the sun is that It exposes everything on earth good and bad, patients often feel like some health professionals are not competent for their job because of the way they are to their patients. Incompetent health care professionals are exposed, the needs of the health system in south Africa also become exposed in such a manner that patient feel like the health they receive from government hospital is not effective as those received from private hospitals.
LITERATURE SUPPORTING EVIDENCE
There are many factors which contribute to the south African health system to seem incompetence thus affecting how the patients perceive it. This literature provides supporting facts for the reflection above.
In south Africa there is a shortage of health care professionals in rural areas and this is also an international problem (MacGregor, 2018). This makes the healthcare provided in rural areas to be poor because of the shortage of staff, patients receiving care late they feel neglected and left out. Umthombo youth development foundation (UYDF) scholarship scheme is an intervention to attract and retain HCW in rural areas with 92% university pass over the past five years. All the Mthombo graduate pay the scheme by working back in rural areas to improve health care system.
The shortage of resources and equipment in the hospital in south Africa is another contributing factor. Patients at the primary health care clinic took medication that has long expired without noticing cause of the lack of new medication in the pharmacy at the clinic and many patients died (Miller 2018). This issue continues into the lack of back up generators and the hospital financial status is low such that the working staff must use their own money to buy food for patients in the wards. Another problem is that in many rural areas patients have to travel long distances to reach the hospital because of the lack of transport, even when trying to call the emergency care car they take long to arrive.
The south African health system needs to improve with the increasing population and increasing needs of the people. The establishment of NGO’s to help patients provide home based rehabilitation, medication and support.
REFERRENCES
- Britnell, Mark (2015). In Search of the Perfect Health System. London: Palgrave. p. 75.
- Baker GR, and Norton P. Addressing the effects of adverse events: study provides insights into patient safety at Canadian hospitals. Healthcare Quality J. 2004; 7(4): p.
- 20-1. Doyle C, Lennox L, Bell D. A systematic review of evidence on the links between patient experience and clinical safety and effectiveness. British Medical Journal Open. 2013; 3
- MacGregor RG. Umthombo Youth Development Foundation
Annual Report 2017. [Internet]. [cited 20 June 2018]
One thought on “The SUN of The South African health System”
Hello, Thabani Fortune!
Thank you for your reflections, it was really interesting to read your point of view in this assignment.
I like how you have used a creative and symbolic way of representing the patients side of the story with the picture of the sun.
The way you describe your health system is interesting, and i can see some similarities with our health system in Norway. For example fear related to an uncertain future at the hospital, and later in life when returning home from the hospital. Well done!
Your references seem interesting and relevant! I would however love to see how you have used your references throughout the text. In this way i can see what is fact-based information, and what is your own reflections. I also think that the first sentence is a bit difficult to understand. Maybe you can rephrase it, so it is easy to understand what the text is about.
Overall, i really like the your assignment and i think you are describing some important aspects of being a patient in todays health system. Also i would like to thank you for an insights in the South African Health system, it has been very interesting to read your reflections on this topic.
Keep up the good work!