Newsroom
A beautiful game; a life-changing adventure - Dr. Tom Boyles
Setting out to work in South Africa was both an exciting and daunting prospect for British doctor Tom Boyles. In retrospect, however, Boyles has described his experience as ‘the making of’ his career and the greatest adventure of his life to date: “I always planned to work in infectious diseases but probably in the UK. I now intend to commit to South Africa and spend the next part of my career working in the field of TB/HIV medicine in the public sector. That has obvious consequences for my life (as my family and many of my friends live in the UK) but I'm unlikely to live there in the near future and have essentially immigrated to SA”
Boyles has experienced South Africa as a land of “beautiful contrasts and unexpected surprises”, also observes that some things are universal, particularly when it comes to soccer! Boyles has even inspired the odd soccer match outside Madwaleni - the hospital has formed its own soccer team and a light-hearted rivalry has sprung up within the community between teams. Boyles laughs, “It's comforting to know that whether in Africa or Anfield some things never change.”
A British citizen, Boyles graduated with honours from the University of Liverpool with a Diploma of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. In contrast to the well-equipped and pristine clinical conditions of medicinal practice in the UK, Boyles wanted a new challenge, wanting to work in a ‘low resource’ area in Africa. Boyles initially had a wartorn area such as Darfur in mind, but the more he learned about rural South Africa the more appealing it became.
Boyles contacted Madwaleni Hospital in the Eastern Cape and it was through Madwaleni that he was first introduced to Africa Health Placements. Boyles says “I regularly recommend AHP to my professional associates. The bureaucracy related to coming to South Africa is huge (and largely unnecessary) so without AHP I think many people would drop out along the way and in that way alone they are vital to the process.”
Boyles has been chief medical officer at Madwaleni Hospital since May 2007. His responsibilities include the outpatient care of 4 000 patients with HIV, of whom 1 700 are on ARV’s. Boyles is responsible for a 23 bed ward, where the majority of patients having HIV/Aids-related conditions. Dr Boyles is so passionate about serving the disadvantaged that he even spends his out of work hours at the emergency unit, obstetrics and paediatrics units; going above and beyond the call of duty out of utter devotion and love for what he does. The Madwaleni community is indeed lucky to have such a dedicated doctor in its midst.
Boyles has faced some tough challenges during his time at Madwaleni, as the conditions he works under are so different to those he experienced in the first world. He has also experienced some funny – even bizarre - moments working in South Africa. But he's taken it all in his stride and has even created a blog (www.tomboyles.blogspot.com) which documents the daily highs and lows.
He says, “I always knew that coming to a place like this would mean looking after lots of people that ended up dying... What took longer to accept was that it was not my fault. It sounds strange perhaps but initially all this death left me wondering whether I should really be here and perhaps I was doing more harm than good. It took me a few months to come to terms with the fact that I am doing my best and that, although many people are dying, that is good enough.”
Boyles has also had some lighter moments during his time here: “Personally, the two high points both occurred in the cricket stadium in Durban! The first was taking a catch in the crowd during an international 20/20 game and the second was completing the Comrades marathon. A professional high points are counting the numbers of people we have got on to ARV's (2 000). Low points include every time I'm on call for maternity at the weekends and when I see valuable hospital money being spent on inconsequential luxuries.”
Boyles’ tenure in South Africa has had such a huge impact on his life that it has brought about an entire shift in his long-term career plans: “I may move to Cape Town to work with some experts for a while but I will still want to be involved with rural ARV roll-out which may be where my long-term future lies.”
