People more informed about health
PEOPLE no longer treat doctors as if they hold all the answers. Instead they will question and analyse a diagnosis if they are not sure about it.
This was one of the legacies of democracy, according to Nelson Mandela Bay senior manager Dr Mamisa Chabula-Nxiweni, who believes that a wealth of information awareness had opened up since the first democratic election in 1994.
Chabula-Nxiweni has worked in the public sector for more than 20 years and helps out in public hospitals when needed.
She said when she first started as a doctor in 1988 there were cases of children coming in with a number of preventable illnesses, including scabies.
“People were not keen to take their children in for immunisations, which led to packed children’s wards. Now, the number of children with preventable illnesses has decreased relatively.
“In the old days, the children’s drip room in the hospitals used to be packed, but not anymore. There are still children who come in with preventable illnesses here and there, but not as much. Access to information really is contributing to a better health status for communities.”
Chabula-Nxiweni said while doctors were viewed as the “be all and end all of information” before 1994, with patients never questioning a diagnosis, that had changed dramatically in the last 20 years, with people wanting to know everything about their illnesses.
“The pamphlets, the constant information sessions on TV and radio has led to people being more health conscious. Even if they do not understand a diagnosis, they now ask for clarity and the way forward instead of taking it at face value.
“People know their rights when it comes to their health and are not afraid to exercise them. They are more informed about cholesterol, diabetes and the like.”
She said while HIV/Aids was talked about in hushed tones in the early ’90s, people were now more open to being tested.
“Instead of making excuses, or being scared of HIV/Aids, people no longer treat it as a death sentence because of the information they have at hand.”
Chabula-Nxiweni said while there was still work to be done, a lot had been achieved in improving the healthcare system.
She said the introduction of the National Health Insurance plan would be another great legacy, if applied in the right manner.
“It will make the quality of healthcare the same for all – rich or poor. The problem might be the backlog, but otherwise it will go a long way towards [building] a healthy nation.”