This is from Lara Olivier, who put out string of Tweets.@Lar7aOli4

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So I’m an intern yeah.

So basically I’ve got my MD, I’m a Dr, that’s my official title.

I work in a government hospital and will for 3 years before practicing in private or continuing my studies.

Let me tell you about government hospitals:

  1. Overcrowding: our hospitals are ridiculously overcrowded. We don’t have enough beds for the amount of sick people we treat. People sleep on the floor or if they’re lucky enough, on chairs.
  2. We have minimal resources most of the time. So basically if you can find a face mask you’re lucky. And I spent two weeks working with active TB patients. Patients who have more than likely given it to me.
  3. We have one singular isolation ward in one single hospital made available and it has 8 beds. Eight. Once it’s hit capacity? Game over.
  4. Our anaesthesiologists and intensivists are tired. 80% of them have left. They can’t cope with the volume and hours and were not nearly paid enough. They were tired and moved on to greener pastures. Don’t blame them.
  5. Interns are abused. I’ve worked as a radiographer or a porter or sometimes even as a nurse. I’ve got two bachelors degrees in medicine. That’s fine I do it for patient care. They come first. Why? We haven’t got enough of the above.
  6. Burn out: every single intern or young doctor I know has a coping mechanism. Or is burnt out after 1 year. Emotionally we are exhausted.
  7. Medicines out of stock: we have run out of morphine on so many occasions it’s not even funny. We have had Augmentin out of stock for months. Basics, absolute basics. We’ve reduced fractures with an awake patient and no conscious sedation.
  8. 70% alcohol hand sanitizer: if you find a bottle, you hoard that shit because good luck finding it again. It’s either diluted with water (defeats the point) or the patients are known to drink it (not even joking).
  9. Abuse: I have been verbally abused so many times it’s a joke. At least 2 or 3 times a night. Sometimes it threatens to progress to physical abuse. I have been kicked and spat on and grabbed before. It happens.

Overwhelmed by the support messages I’ve received from everyone on this platform! I’m not here to spread more panic or anxiety, I just want to promote the importance of social distancing!

These are earlier Tweets by her:

I will say this about COVID-19, if the immunocompromised patients in our country catch this, then we’re in trouble. Normal people will fight it off, it’s those with underlying conditions (HIV) that will suffer.

And considering our country has the biggest population of HIV positive people in the world? It’s not good at all.

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