There’s no argument to be had over excellent healthcare

What would this world have become without the likes of the medical fraternity?

Imagine, no men and women dedicated to care for the sick? No surgeons unafraid of the sight of blood and unhesitatingly plunging healing scalpels into human flesh? No general practitioners to handle coughs and colds, as well as referring more serious cases to specialists? And no folk who study the functions associated with healthcare like radiologists or sonar scan operators? No dental practitioners?

I’ll tell you what my world would’ve been like without these exceptional folk. Start with me. Quadruple bypass two years ago. Just this week, a double whammy when my Heidi suffered a heart attack in the early hours and elder son in New Zealand underwent heart surgery similar to mine.

The superstitious belief that bad things come in threes might have some merit in our case.

But here’s the thing: the three baddies were transformed into three goodies. We are alive, having been given a new lease on life.

Certainly, in my case, were it not for the heart surgeon I would not be churning out these words. And Heidi and Cliff Jnr are given professional post-operative care and are expected to be home soon.

Got me thinking about my dad and elder brother, who died at a relatively young age because technology hadn’t as yet made present-day strides. Were they alive today, I’m convinced they would’ve lived to a ripe old age – like their laatlammetjie.

In the light of the above, I was peeved at the utterances of a distant acquaintance who had the temerity to suggest prayer alone would have done the same thing. He belonged to a disillusioned group who do not believe in medication and surgery and are against blood transfusions.

This balderdash presupposes that medics don’t possess what in effect is surely a God-given talent to save lives; that medical practice is Satan-driven.

Had these folk seen how Heidi was treated on arrival at the emergency ward at 2am – and how four sisters sweated over ECG and blood pressure machines and having to decide on the best medication, and how much to administer, for stabilizing a pain-wracked patient – they would rethink their belief.

Cliff Buchler.

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