THOSE who have been following Al Jazeera's Saving Soweto will be as horrified as I am at the lack of life-saving equipment, HIV-Aids treatment, beds, staff and many other things at Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital.
The one highlight at this hospital is that the staff are dedi-cated and work hard to make the patients better and do not work only for the salaries.
These problems extend to all state hospitals and people take their lives into their hands when they go there.
Medical aid no longer assures you OF decent treatment in a private hospital and doctors do not treat patients to the best of their ability, with dignity.
Private hospitals are becoming as bad as the state's and doctors are only there because each visit means more money.
You can't get a doctor's appointment without paying upfront.
Pensioners and poor people can forget about seeing a specialist, no matter how desperately you need treatment.
If you suffer from chronic pain medical aids won't give you the medication doctors prescribe but, like state hospitals, offer paracetamol or nothing.
The medical sector is declining because no one monitors them or stops them from making their own rules, which are not friendly to the patient, their disease or pocket.
The days of being in business to give mankind the benefit of your knowledge are long over.
The rot starts at the very top of the government and so everything is just rotting through the pile.
A government that cannot run a state or a hospital or ensure that private medical care is up to standard is totally incapable of running healthcare that will benefit us all.
Cilla Webster, Scottburgh
Govt looks on as healthcare declines
THOSE who have been following Al Jazeera's Saving Soweto will be as horrified as I am at the lack of life-saving equipment, HIV-Aids treatment, beds, staff and many other things at Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital.
The one highlight at this hospital is that the staff are dedi-cated and work hard to make the patients better and do not work only for the salaries.
These problems extend to all state hospitals and people take their lives into their hands when they go there.
Medical aid no longer assures you OF decent treatment in a private hospital and doctors do not treat patients to the best of their ability, with dignity.
Private hospitals are becoming as bad as the state's and doctors are only there because each visit means more money.
You can't get a doctor's appointment without paying upfront.
Pensioners and poor people can forget about seeing a specialist, no matter how desperately you need treatment.
If you suffer from chronic pain medical aids won't give you the medication doctors prescribe but, like state hospitals, offer paracetamol or nothing.
The medical sector is declining because no one monitors them or stops them from making their own rules, which are not friendly to the patient, their disease or pocket.
The days of being in business to give mankind the benefit of your knowledge are long over.
The rot starts at the very top of the government and so everything is just rotting through the pile.
A government that cannot run a state or a hospital or ensure that private medical care is up to standard is totally incapable of running healthcare that will benefit us all.
Cilla Webster, Scottburgh