Dear Readers
It was with shock and utter disgust that I read your article Waste of an Upgrade, [Week ending 6 November].
This type of scenario is typical of our present government’s lack of foresight, wastefulness and inability to organise properly. I quote from your article “The Sizwe Tropical Diseases hospital is the only tropical diseases hospital South of the Sahara”. At a recent All Africa Conference for medical practitioners, Professor Sylvester Chima of the University of KwaZulu-Natal spoke passionately and at great length on what are currently referred to as NTD’s (neglected tropical diseases).
Yes! That’s just what these insidious but absolutely deadly diseases are: neglected!
Why do we have only one hospital for a group of diseases that threaten the very fabric of our society? Because they are unspectacular diseases [contracted by] mainly poorer people. There are no upper class, wealthy victims who can afford expensive research and equally expensive treatments. The drug companies simply aren’t interested in the poor!
Sizwe Hospital is essential and a drop in the ocean of what we actually need. Half our school population in the lower income townships around Johannesburg suffer from helminthic diseases ie worms.
Schistasomiasis (bilharzia), liver flukes, trypasomiasis etc etc are all diseases in hot tropical countries that destroy life slowly and insidiously. They are parasitic diseases caused by viruses, bacteria and a variety of invertebrate organisms. Remember a good parasite should not kill its host. Death must come very slowly for the victim, the longer the victim takes to die, clearly the better for the parasite.
Teachers, haven’t you noticed that some of the children in your class are listless and even ‘lazy’? This symptom is prevalent in children with helminthic (worm) infestations.
Rather than pull down this hospital, several more need to be built. If they want to replace it, please do, but for heaven’s sake don’t throw away what we currently have. It will take years to build a replacement!
Regards
