Covid-19: SA doctor refuses to treat unvaccinated patients

A doctor in Mbombela, Mpumalanga, will no longer see unvaccinated patients at his practice.

In an interview with Lester Kiewet on Cape Talk on Tuesday, Dr Tafara Machiri said he was tired of losing people to Covid-19 and “compassion fatigue” led to his decision.

He posted a notice outside his practice that said he would “not be seeing patients who are not vaccinated against Covid-19”.

“After seeing about five patients die due to Covid-19-related complications between June and August, all of whom were unvaccinated and were eligible to receive the vaccine, I told myself that I need to do something,” he said.

Machiri’s pleas were ignored, which led to his decision to not treat unvaccinated patients. Machiri said 43 of the 51 patients who had refused to get vaccinated, have since received their jabs after he put up the notice.

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Explaining why he took the drastic stance not to treat certain people, Machiri said unvaccinated patients were adding extra strain on doctors and healthcare workers. 

Some have criticised the doctor for refusing to treat patients but Machiri has no regrets. He is even encouraging ordinary citizens to take similar actions.

“If you have a brother or sister who is refusing to vaccinate, come up with something that will push them to get it,” he said.

Compiled by Gareth Cotterell