Experiences and Observations from a Rural Hosiptal in Orange Free State, South Africa

During the summer of 2004, I travelled to South Africa to volunteer in Boitumelong Special Needs School. The school is located in the small township of Thaba ‘Nchu which is near Bloemfontein in the Free State. It was not long before I introduced myself to the doctors practicing in the local hospital and eagerly asked if I could attend some of the clinics. The health care system in South Africa has a much more developed private sector than the UK. In every major city both a public and private hospital can be found. Typically, only white South Africans have health insurance and comprise the patient population of the private health care institutions. The public hospitals serve the black populace who cannot afford to pay for their medical treatment. Many of the small towns and townships in South Africa are populated by a majority of blacks and so are served by Government funded hospitals. Such hospitals often face staff, equipment and medication shortages and frequently become the primary choices of newly qualified medical students who are keen to spend their first year practicing under a great deal of pressure and in a variety of different medical specialties simultaneously. The doctors I spoke with found that they developed a greater depth and quality of medical knowledge and understanding of tertiary health care than their counterparts who applied to larger public and private hospitals.