19/07/2020
I missed the presidential address last night because I was at work. But it seems a lot of people have “opinions” on why it’s so ridiculous to ban alcohol again.
Well let me tell you some FACTS from an emergency medicine practitioner.
On Saturday, I worked a 12 hour shift. In this time, my colleagues and I saw multiple trauma patients. Far too many of them were woman beaten by drunken men, including a 62 year old. I’m not talking about a smack on the face. Apart from the large bruises on their limbs, one of the women had her shoulder dislocated, another had her skull exposed and a broken leg.
Then an elderly lady was rushed in… her lifeless body slouched on a wheelchair. It was too late. She was dead from multiple stab wounds inflicted by her drunk son.
We also see patients referred to as “community assaults”. Many that day… One such patient arrived later that evening with serious injuries to his head, limbs and abdomen. Guess what! That was the guy that stabbed the elderly lady to death!!
As I was about to leave, a couple frantically ran into the ED with their screaming child. A drunk driver crashed into their house and injured this innocent child!
Oh wait, there’s more. We are an EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT. That was just some examples of the trauma caused by alcohol.
We also have really sick patients constantly flowing in with heart attacks, strokes, life threatening complications from diabetes and hypertension AND we are in the middle of a pandemic!!! COVID patients are so sick and need so much critical care. It’s nothing like we’ve seen before.
This is just 12 hours, in one ED, in one hospital. I haven’t even mentioned the non-violent injuries.
I left work that day feeling deflated and frankly disappointed with South Africans. To top that off, as I drove out, a DRUNK driver shot a red light, almost crashed into me and then tried to push me off the road! He then proceeded to crash into 2 cars ahead of me. Do I deserve to be a victim of his irresponsible behavior???
I’m tired of people complaining about restrictions. I have not seen my parents in a month because I’m out here sacrificing myself for all of YOU. I’m being responsible and won’t be a vector of infection to my family. Is it so hard for people to do the same??? Is it my responsibility only??? I know I’m a health care worker and I signed up for this, but we are humans too. We are exposed to COVID on the daily and my colleagues are getting sick. Some even dying. So we are facing staff shortages which adds to the strain of us trying to do our best for every patient. You know who else is dying from COVID? Elderly people! Because young people don’t know how to behave, go out unnecessarily and take the infection home to their families while they remain well or slightly ill.
South Africans were given time to get educated about this disease and act responsibly and even got access to alcohol again. But they’ve proven that they are a burden to the health care system. On the first day alcohol was sold again, our hospital beds filled up with alcohol related injuries and complications. We had spent months preparing those beds for COVID patients. So where should we now put sick COVID patients when the numbers are increasing so rapidly??
I know that it won’t stop violent injuries totally, but the first alcohol ban gave us palpable relief from our usual trauma burden. My colleagues and I celebrated when we heard the news last night! It makes the biggest difference to us on the front line.
People this is not POLITICS. It’s a PANDEMIC!!!Everyone needs to fight this together. I do sympathize with those that depend on income from an alcohol based industry. But to those “responsible” drinkers who can’t sacrifice alcohol for a little while…unless you can walk a day in my shoes, put your empty glass down and S**U
