Basil Stathoulis is an orthopedic surgeon in South Africa.

Our country needs a debridement: A South African physician reflects

Physician
July 30, 2021

This week sees myself in the office only for a few hours. I decided to drive across the city yesterday to meet with supportive friends for lunch. All three of us are fully vaccinated.

Along the way in the suburbs, there were still people parked at strategic barriers erected to prevent free movement into the suburbs. Some of the residents still stood guard. There was less traffic on the …

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Our country needs a debridement: A South African physician reflects

The medical team is at a breaking point

Physician
July 25, 2021

It was a cold day in Durban. Sixteen degrees Celsius is cold for us on the East Coast of sub-tropical Africa.

I had made a trip through the suburbs to drop something off for my theatre scrub sister.  The roadblocks are manned by community commandos, most of who are my patients and it’s easy to pass through.

On the way back to the hospital, I passed a queue of cars more than …

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The medical team is at a breaking point

Violent protests in a young African democracy closes a hospital

Physician
July 20, 2021

I had an uneasy weekend.

On the one hand, I was watching the COVID-19 figures around the country and in my region of KwaZulu-Natal. We are waiting for the third wave to hit our hospital. Last week we stopped planned surgeries and reviewed our planning and capacity to deal with the surge.

On the other hand, I had been sunk by the images and reports of violent protests related to the imprisonment …

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Violent protests in a young African democracy closes a hospital

After COVID, now my soul can rest a little easier

Conditions
July 11, 2021

I had been searching for a year. Because of the pandemic, despite the pandemic and to heal from the pandemic. Finally in May this year, I was gifted what seemed to have become an impossible task.

I messaged the hospital manager: “The trees have arrived. I’ll come by later in the week to chat about where to plant them.”

“Excellent” was her answer.

We have a garden of remembrance as you enter our …

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After COVID, now my soul can rest a little easier

The COVID-19 vaccine from the South African frontlines

Conditions
March 3, 2021

I have been distracting myself since the second wave. Our hospital has quietened down as far as COVID-19 cases go, and we started doing limited planned surgeries. After my last post, which detailed the overwhelming and horrific difficulties we faced during the second wave, a friend of mine suggested my next post should be about some good news.

So I thought of telling you about a touching …

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The COVID-19 vaccine from the South African frontlines

The “rest in peace team” during the latest wave of COVID

Physician
February 12, 2021

This is all about death.

In early January 2021, my hospital was overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases as the second wave of infections hit our coastal holiday town with devastating force.

The senior emergency doctor contracted the disease and was unwell.  The remaining doctors were stretched to cover the extra load. Our infrastructure was stretched. My measure of how we were coping was based on a few rough gauges:

How many people were lined …

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The “rest in peace team” during the latest wave of COVID

An orthopedic surgeon wants to do more

Physician
February 5, 2021

Sometimes I think.

Sometimes I think and nothing happens. That seems to happen a lot during this period of the second wave of COVID-19 that has hit my hospital. Netcare Kingsway Hospital is a community private hospital and has been overwhelmed in caring for patients with COVID-19.

Sometimes I think and something happens. That’s when a story takes shape, and I wonder how I will tie it together to make it work.

Sometimes …

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An orthopedic surgeon wants to do more

Burials: We can’t keep up

Conditions
January 18, 2021

Those were the headlines in one of the Sunday papers.

He was around fifty years old and with his wife. They stood in front of me in the supermarket. He was in shorts and a light blue t-shirt, wearing beach flip-flops. Standard casual wear for the holiday beach town where I work at Netcare Kingsway Hospital in Amanzimtoti, on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast of South Africa.

I could see him reading the …

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Burials: We can’t keep up