Newsroom
Thought Leader: Images of the rural health community (Jon Riordan)
_302x273.jpg)
Renowned photojournalist, Jon Riordan, visited four rural hospitals in the Transkei to take photos for AHP last month. He writes this of the experience:
Images of the rural health community
by Jon Riordan
Entering the Dr Malizo Mpehle Memorial Hospital in Tsolo, I felt a strong sense of surprise and intrigue. The hospital, which opened in 2009, was big, clean and modern with helpful staff. This did not fit in with my preconceived ideas of a rural hospital.
Working as a documentary photographer, I have had the privilege of doing a lot of work in the OR Tambo region. In this time I have come to know quite intimately the troubles that face the population of this former Apartheid Homeland. The policy of separate development that was adopted in the early 1960s soon led to the creation of autonomous states designated for each of South Africa’s ethnic groups. The Transkei became the larger of two homelands chosen for the South African Xhosa population.
As time wore on and we have set about rebuilding our country after the fall of the Apartheid regime, these homelands have proved to be one of the hardest scars to heal. The forced and artificial growth of these largely rural populations has created lasting problems regarding poverty and lack of infrastructure.
Working in the area I have developed a habit of expecting the worst. Quite often these fears are borne out and one wonders how we can ever reverse the horrors of our past. Yet sometimes, and this is happening more and more often, this pessimism is proven wrong. It has happened before at a school near Coffee Bay where I was invited in to watch some young children happily learning their maths times’ tables from a teacher actively enjoying the task. And when I was speaking to a man named Jomo who was responsible for cleaning a public park in Port St Johns, he told me that he and a friend had tendered for the job and won it. By using the system in place they had both not only gained gainful employment and a way to support their families proudly but were also their own bosses. The photo I took of him was of a man who had found a place for himself in this world.
It happened again when I entered the Dr Malizo Mpehle Memorial Hospital in Tsolo. I was immediately taken to meet Mrs Sotsopo, the head of the hospital, who warmly greeted me and listened while I explained why I was there. When she said she had no problem with me photographing her hospital one could see that she said it with a sense of pride.
As I was shown through the hospital one could see why, there was the buzz of industry throughout the building. Doctors dealt with patients professionally and amiably, a pharmacist dealt with a snaking queue patiently and efficiently, a group of surgeons performed a caesarean section in a large, well-equipped operating theatre and outside a group of interns had lunch while on their break. The common denominator running through these professionals was their age, or lack of it. With the exception of the surgical staff most of the personnel I met were young and enthusiastic. With proper management one can only see a positive future.
This is not to say this project was only full of positive signs. Another hospital I visited, St Lucy’s Hospital in a village named Ngcolosi, is still waiting to be helped into the 21st century. The hospital was originally built in 1906 and with their make shift washing lines and collapsing rondavels one could be forgiven for wondering if anything has changed since then. Yet the staff hang on resolutely, an endearing if slightly worrying image sticks in my mind of the hospital’s radiographer standing in front of rows and rows of manila envelopes all holding X-rays. The shiny new computers the doctors used to view X-rays at the Dr Maliza Mpehle Memorial Hospital have not reached St Lucy’s yet.
Ironically, the creation of the Dr Malizo Mpehle Memorial Hospital has affected St Lucy’s dramatically. The two both serve the Tsolo district and while the newer hospital is drawing all of the funds there are continued questions as to the viability of the keeping St Lucy’s open. There is a case to be argued for the centralisation of services at the newer, larger hospital but for the people living in Ngcolosi and the many satellite settlements nearby, there is a long and bumpy dirt road separating them from this new hospital.
These are some of the continual problems that the healthcare system face within the OR Tambo district. How do you supply quality healthcare to a poorly connected and impoverished community? How do you ensure that a workforce of well-trained, enthusiastic medical practitioners will continue wanting to work in these areas that can feel so far removed from the urban sprawl many would be used to? How does one ensure that funds reach those who need them most?
Already important steps are being put in place with the movements towards unrolling a National Health Insurance system. This is a groundbreaking step in a country where it is always the impoverished that face the most fundamental problems.
Check out his amazing photos in our image gallery
And for more have a look at his blog
