Confession from one of the doctors at Juba Teaching Hospital to one of his colleagues in Dar El Salam

Confession from one of the doctors at Juba Teaching Hospital to one of his colleagues in Dar El Salam

Authored by an Anonymous

Dear Dr. Charles,

South Sudanese doctors who are here on the ground are frustrated and most of them surrendered to the current harsh living conditions. We are busy with our private Clinics to survive since our house officers are working for free, medical officers and getting 4000SSP ( around 6.5 USD), that comes every 4 to 6 months, consultants are getting 6000 -7000 (10 USD). some are on contracts since independence. The Hospital running cost is 160,000 SSP (250 USD) that comes every 6 months with the salary. HPF is providing drugs that are meant to be for 3 months while they are actually a consumption of one to two weeks ( push system that brings unnecessary items more than lifesaving drugs). What do the public expects from such a health care system?. How can we convince our Health personnel to stay in the Hospital while their children have nothing to eat at home ?. How can we convince them to come daily and on time while some are living in Gure, Jabel Dinka , Sharikat and new site and they don’t have any means of transportation or money to pay to transport themselves?.
If there’s someone to answer this questions and others which are not mentioned here then it will be easier for us to fix what has gone wrong.
We had two sad stories in 2018 when a doctor collapsed with hypoglycemia because he was on duty and had no money to buy something to eat. The other was my personal story with a doctor who happened to be a resident of new site, he usually comes late to our morning meetings in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He was a humble and caring junior Doctor but he always comes late. One day I asked him why is he always coming late, he told me that he has no money to pay for transportation, he use to come footing every day from new site and he can not go out very early fearing criminals along Bilpam road.
We are in real dilemma, only God knows when this myths will be fixed.

God bless South Sudan