Local doctor tells his Wuhan tale

These are the words of Dr Ludrish Shikwambana, a military doctor and one of the officials who were assigned to the Wuhan mission to rescue the 114 South Africans who were based in China.

Shikwambana was born in Sekororo outside Hoedspruit and at the age of five, his family moved to Namakgale township in Phalaborwa.

He believes that there is no greater honour than to serve his own people and taking orders from the commander in chief, President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The young doctor says the Wuhan assignment was an emotional mission as they were fighting an unknown enemy.

Despite being happy that they have completed their task with excellence, he is disappointed at South Africans who are not complying with the president’s call of staying at home.

“One of the main reasons China has so many recovery cases is because they are compliant, anything their president tell them to do, they do without asking questions.

“They comply and ask questions later, but here we have the freedom of asking questions. Complying later might be too late.

“If the virus spreads to our villages, it will infect communities like a wild fire.

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Shikwambana states that in the four hours which they spent in Wuhan, a city which has about 9 million people, they did not see a single person outside.

The only people they saw were the officials and the repatriates at the airport when they were about to leave.

He believes that he was born to become a doctor has always had a passion to understand how the human body works.

“From a young age I have always had compassion for people and were fascinated with the human body.

“I used to catch rats, just to see how the heart and intestine function,” he explained.

The father of two boys, states that he was not the smartest kid in class, but he was afforded a chance of getting into the medical field when the military visited his school in 2002.

The army held a career day at Frans du Toit High School when he was in Grade 12.

“I thought to myself, now I have a chance to pursue my dream of becoming a doctor and also be a soldier,” he said.

He remembers listening to stories his grandfather Jan Mkhabela, told about his army days.

Mkhabela was a soldier who fought during the World War II in Germany representing South Africa.

The local doctor is currently stationed in Pretoria at the 1 Military Hospital.

He is also a popular speaker on sexual health at conferences.

“Corona Covid-19 virus has proved that all the money, mansions and cars do not matter, only life does,” he concluded.