My year as community service doctor at Mosvold Hospital in Ingwavuma was really
great! Different people look for different things in their year as CSO’s, but I
certainly experienced most of what I had hoped for in this year. Clinical
experience, an idea of how a peripheral hospital works, interaction with the
community you’re serving, exploration of a part of our country with which I
wasn’t too familiar, learning something of a different culture and language -
these are some of the goals I set myself before the year started.
You probably never reach all your goals, but I must say that I did quite well.
In terms of clinical medicine I became very much acquainted with HIV and how to
try and deal with the chronically ill patient. Medicine and IV fluid are
definitely not the most important parts of the care for these patients. Every
doctor (and every person that works with patients) must at some time realize
that he is there to help the patient and nothing else. It is not about how much
you now of diabetic keto-acidosis, maple syrup urine disease or congestive
cardiac failure, but whether you made the patient feel better. My year at
Mosvold taught me a lot about patients and their needs. My basic surgical skills
also improved substantially: Caesarean sections, tubal ligations and
manipulations under anaesthesia are not problems at all.
Something you become acutely aware of is the fact that you are a part of the
greater medical team. We - as a small rural hospital - are almost at the bottom
of the food chain, so to speak, and you have to get used to the idea that
patients sometimes need services which we cannot render and that you’ll have to
make sure that they get those services. This can unfortunately be very
frustrating sometimes. It teaches patience and perseverance though!
The area of northern KwaZulu is beautiful and gives you many opportunities which
you should definitely use. Birdwatching, gamedriving, scuba diving,
turtle spotting and beach bumming are but a few!
In summary: my year at Mosvold was really fantastic. If you are thinking of
coming here to do community service, be ready to face some challenges, but also
to make the best of a year you’ll never have again and gain experience you won’t
get anywhere else.
A humble bush doctor
Johannes Marais
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