Doctor offers pro bono service
CARE: Dr Naidoo monitoring one of his patients
A determined Worcester doctor, who found himself unemployed at the start of lockdown, decided to offer his services for free at his local hospital.
Dr Sashen Naidoo was waiting to hear word about his second contract to work aboard a cruise ship when the Level 5 hard lockdown hit, hampering his plans, and he was left jobless.
It was during the first week of lockdown when he made the decision to volunteer at the Worcester Regional Hospital, his former place of employment.
“Once lockdown started, all plans that had been made to resume work were thrown out the window,” the doctor says.
“The summation of how I perceived the pandemic during the initial stages could best be described as unpredictable.
“After having worked in both the state and private sector in South African healthcare, as well as abroad, a realisation came to mind: in a country whose healthcare system has always been under pressure, it was going to be very difficult to squeeze more hard work out of people where everyone has already been giving 110% to begin with,” says Dr Naidoo.
Naidoo says he has trained his entire career for a situation like this, and that he would not have been able to sit at home, while knowing he could help.
Asked whether he would recommend his selfless act to his peers, he exclaimed: “Yes! Working without a monetary motivator enables you to truly evaluate what you love and enjoy about your work. Everything is a lot simpler and less stressful as a result.”
Although the number of positive cases in the country has since declined, Dr Naidoo emphasises that residents be extra careful as a second wave of Covid-19 infections was likely to occur in South Africa as time moves on.