Are we going to experience World War 3 in our lifetime?

One may be puzzled and confused when this question is randomly asked by a person to seek clarities and their own point of view.  Not so long ago we have experience an intense revolution in the African countries where the masses turned against their government or leaders. This has led to the overthrowing of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and the president of the CAR Mr Bozizze who was overthrown by the rebels from his long term reign as president. 

  The biggest saga of all was the brutal killing of the president of Libya Comrade Gadhafi the initiator of the concept of United States of Africa. However we should not be surprised by all these revolutionary war because it is not something that started yesterday but they were boiling up years and years ago until the people gained enough confidence to stand against their masters. 

It should be noted that wars in Africa will hardly be the initiators of world war 3, why? The Western countries sponsors of the rebels that rebel against their own government so that it is easier for them to penetrate through and the ozymendious resources that our continent was blessed with by the creator , we have witnessed NATO destroying Libya into pieces in a war that lasted over two months if my facts are spot on.  The real world war 3 will be started by the west and the Middle East and the sad part is that it is coming very soon. 

The recent  gasleakages by Syrians killing over 350 people is an absolutely clear sign that we are smelling war and this time around the world will not lose a million people instead  the world will be carried more than a billion dead bodies in its shoulders.  As I am busy writing this blog I can safely tell you that the West will react to the situation as the Syrians are not ready to destroy their nuclear weapons.  President Obama and his senators are busy preparing to wage a war that could destroy the world; the ugliest thing is that innocent lives including toddlers, women and youth will be killed in the process. 

We might not be worried now as south Africans because we might say this does no effect to us ,but  the truth of the matter is that one way other  we are affected and the world should start taking a stand to prevent this slowly crippling creature coming on its shores ….. War.

National Health Insurance -What the future holds?

Department of health defines The National Health Insurance (NHI) as a financing system that will make sure that all citizens of South Africa (and legal long-term residents) are provided with essential healthcare, regardless of their employment status and ability to make a direct monetary contribution to the NHI Fund.


Why does South Africa need national health insurance?
Healthcare is a human right – this is a widely accepted international principle. This right should not depend on how rich we are or where we happen to live. The right to obtain healthcare is written into our Constitution.
But large numbers of our people continue to die prematurely and to suffer unnecessarily from poor health. Treatable conditions are not being treated on time and preventable diseases are not being prevented.
This is in spite of the fact that government has tried its utmost since 1994 to ensure that everyone in this country has equitable access to necessary healthcare services. There are still serious challenges mainly caused by a skewed healthcare financing system. Without NHI, the burden of disease in the country will not be reduced because the majority of the population – and the section suffering the greatest ill health – will not access good quality healthcare.
What healthcare services will be funded by NHI?
The NHI will offer all South Africans and legal residents access to a defined package of comprehensive health services. The state is committed to offering as wide a range of services as possible. Although the NHI service package will not include anything and everything, it will offer care at all levels, from primary health care, to specialised secondary care, and highly specialised tertiary and quaternary levels of care.
Examples of what the NHI package will exclude are:

• Cosmetic surgery that is not necessary or medically indicated but done as a matter of choice – for instance, botox, liposuction and face-lifts.
  
• Expensive dental procedures performed for aesthetic purposes.
  
• Expensive eye-care devices like trendy spectacle frames.
  
• Medicines not included in the National Essential Drug List except in circumstances where the complementary list has been approved by the Minister of Health.
  
• Diagnostic procedures outside the approved guidelines and protocols as advised by expert groups.
  

The benefits provided will cover preventive, promotive, curative and rehabilitative health services. It is important to note that emphasis will be placed on prevention of disease and promotion of health. The present healthcare system places undue focus on curing of disease and performance of procedures when people have developed complications.

My own point of view

I think this mentality of most people in my profession (Occupational therapy) should stop or else our career path will always be unknown and we will remain underpaid just because we are passive and submissive.The national health insurance was launched a long time and other professions such as Pharmacy are busy engaging it and we are on the back sit waiting to move with the flow. recently the congress of  Pharmacy students in South which was held in the University of North West discussed the issue at length and came up with resolutions leading to the Pharmacy congress in December this year.

I feel that as Occupational therapist ,both students and professionals should understand the role that we will play towards this initiative and to perhaps maybe figure out some innovative ways that we can apply in shaping our profession to fit it.

I believe that through discussions and engagement with different stakeholders of the MDT in finding each could also play a huge role in the success of the NHI concept.

Pyschosocial block 

Week 1

Week 1 of psychosocial block was  top of the list on things to blog about in this week's column. firstly one would like to state that they are a placed at Wentworth challenge which is halfway-house basically catering for mostly high and low functioning patients to work on fixed term contracts on a weekly wages. it is comprised of 26 residential patients and commuters from the surrounding locations such as uMlazi ,Wetnworth ,Lamontville and Merebank. The venue is called a Halfway house because it is a transition between Open labour market and the sheltered workshop environment. There a two manageress on at the workshop and one in the residential facility who are responsible for the welfare of the patients and for the smooth running of the area.There are two secretaries and quite interestingly is that one of them is a resident and a patient at the facility. There is also a male a male social worker in the facility and who is very helpful i must say. He knows most of the patient a brother and sister but he has hardly spent spent two years in the facility ,showing how dedicated he is to his work.

We were allocated two patients each by our supervisor and after the orientation to the area we started straight with the assessment (This is the part I really enjoy in my fieldwork). After finishing assessment we had a chat with the supervisor as a group discussing our patients together which i think benefited all of us in terms of the experience and confidence due to exposure to different conditions.

I am so looking forward to making an impact to the facility and be a light in the people's environment as is what we stand for as Occupational therapists.

On

Review of Mock Practical

One would like to start this blog by a Rumi quote dating back to the 12th centuries which is thus stated “Don't be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.” In commencing our mock practical on tuesday this quote was used by the lecturer and was further simplified for the students understanding. This indeed is one of the most powerful quotes that one can use in creating or mapping out a unique journey for an individual.

 What stood out for me from this quote is that it is essential for one to learn from stories of others but must strive to create their own stories in life by learning from previous experiences . I think the scope of our practice revolves around the concept of critical thinking which is a fundamental tool of analysis that was used by the above poet to explain his latter quote. For me the most powerful thing is to explore things that were never explored before and strive very hard to achieve your very own results in your treatment session, hence giving you the right to defend and owning those results.

I have heard experiences in Occupational therapy before which most of them almost led me to exit the degree and divert to somewhere else, but what I have learnt a lesson from my late father is that you never start something and you do not finish it, hence will never ever live the most dearest degree in my life without creating my very own story. 

 This mock practical session has prepared me to start my Fieldwork practice in high spirit and has prepared me physically ,psychological and otherwise in the same time. I have also learnt that this mock practical was a bit different from the past mock practicals in terms of it's setting and content. One can deduce that knowledge is interchangeable and you cannot always be expecting the same thing in a module year after year.

The show is on.


The second semester has kick started in high spirit and we have almost finished the second week of psychosocial lectures. Judging from the hype and the mood in class i can safely say that everyone is geared up and ready from the fieldwork period which is starting in less than two weeks. We have started practicing some of the treatment skills that will be essential during our fieldwork period ,but one practical session that stood out for me this week was the Relaxation Therapy exercise which is a powerful tool used by Occupational therapist during treatment to reduce tension. This is a 10-15 minutes exercise that is done in a quiet place with patients giving them simple and audible instructions they should be following in helping them relax. The students will have to submit a Compatible disc at the end of the semester after practicing it working in pairs.

News maker of the week

Zimbabwean elections for me a the baton of this week and one must congratulate country and its people for holding peaceful elections. Even though there were incidents whereby they were irregularities reported in some regions of Harare but we should applaud that there was no incidents of fighting and political intolerance amongst voters. Occupational therapy is a diverse Career which covers most spectrum of the society including that of working with foreign nationals like people from Zimbabwe who are seeking asylum in South Africa.

The issue of National empowerment fund of loaning 34 million to Khanyi Dlomo also made the front pages with the leftists criticizing the government and NEF for being biased towards the middle class instead of developing the poor.

These are some of the news makers that we need to familiarize ourselves with so at to be proactive in tackling the societal issues... We OT's and we are the centre of human Occupations.