Nineteen doctors wrote an open letter appealing to President Cyril Ramaphosa to immediately end the "hard" lockdown. They say the social suffering experienced by people is worse than the coronavirus pandemic.
The doctors are all from UCT's medical school class of 1993. Their "letter’s argument was informed by extensive discussions and sharing of experiences and evidence from our WhatsApp class group with doctors working in South Africa and around the world".
It's astounding so-called experts - economists, doctors, Wits academics - without having information, want to end the lockdown. Do they not have the evidence we have, tentative as it is? This behaviour is bizarre. Scientists are worrying about a second and third wave, and the UN said the coronavirus will be with us for a long time.
What do the 19 advise patients who have other communicable diseases (Covid-19 is one) like measles, chicken pox, HIV or TB? Go forth and multiply? They, who proudly publish their names (see footnote), ought to be charged for unethical conduct. I wouldn't go to them for medical advice.
The doctors consulted each other via WhatsApp. This is how quacks make decisions - not on data and facts but emotion and social media (but doctors don't like patients looking up ailments on the Internet which often is better than the diagnoses they make). These are practising doctors. Thankfully, my family and I don't attend them.
WhatsApp, like all social media platforms, is not a reliable method of communicating serious ideas. More importantly, it indicates the 19 have not interrogated the information that's available, and they are not as well read as they ought to be for doctors even regarding information available in the media. Using their WhatsApp group, they forum shopped a social position, an agenda, based on their social connection - class of 93 - rather than the science and their professional ethics using social media to do it. I'm guessing they're members of a Facebook class of 93 too.
Last week Helen Ward, a professor of public health at Imperial College, wrote in The Guardian the British government ignored their advice to lockdown. "The 'science around coronavirus is in its infancy and developing daily, with researchers across the world trying to understand how the virus spreads ... But while scientists carry out observations and experiments, testing, iterating and discovering new knowledge, it is the role of policymakers to act on the best available evidence".
Yesterday on e-TV's 1pm news an expert said after "lockdown we're expecting a deluge of cases", i.e. previously unreported cases. South Africa, like western hemisphere countries except Germany, Iceland and one or two others, are not doing nearly sufficient tests. The government has had two months - March and April - not counting February when like the west they ignored the epidemic, but still tardy, acting like there's a tomorrow, the old SA way. Without examination and evaluating, whatever the discipline but especially medicine, there's no way to determine the vectors.
It's obvious that many of SA's society including so-called experts and commentators on local media don't have a clue what this pandemic is, preferring the fog of ignorance. But they blissfully jump into the unknown and assert everyone else - government and epidemiologists around the world - is getting it wrong.
Worse, fears are there shall be a second and third wave unlike seasonal flu or SARS. Singapore, which acted quickly and effectively to contain the outbreak, this week reported 3 000 new cases. That number quickly grew to 9 000 in days. They extended lockdown to June.
Zunaid Barclay, Nephrologist, Cape Town;
Ingrid de Beer, General Practitioner, Cape Town;
Perrin Hansen, Paediatric Neurologist, Johannesburg;
Chris Hofmeyr, ENT Surgeon, Cape Town;
Riaz Ismael, General Practitioner, Cape Town;
Hilary Johnstone, Clinical Research, George;
Ebrahim Kader, Neuro and General Interventionalist, Cape Town;
Tracy Kilborn, Paediatric Radiology, Cape Town;
Feizal Majiet, General and Occupational Medical Practitioner, Cape Town;
Thane Munting, Orthopaedic Surgeon, Cape Town;
Simon Pickstone-Taylor, Psychiatrist, Western Cape;
Jenny Potts, Specialist Physician and Rheumatologist, Port Elizabeth;
Neil Richards, Family Physician, Cape Town;
Nandi Siegfried, Public Health Physician, Cape Town;
Chantal Simonis, Consultant in Reproductive Medicine, Southampton;
Kerstin Simons, Consultant Vascular Surgeon, Tutzing, Germany;
Paul Sinclair, Paediatrician, Cape Town;
Fred Tyler, Urologist, East London; and
Kathleen Van der Westhuizen, General Practitioner, Cape Town
The doctors are all from UCT's medical school class of 1993. Their "letter’s argument was informed by extensive discussions and sharing of experiences and evidence from our WhatsApp class group with doctors working in South Africa and around the world".
It's astounding so-called experts - economists, doctors, Wits academics - without having information, want to end the lockdown. Do they not have the evidence we have, tentative as it is? This behaviour is bizarre. Scientists are worrying about a second and third wave, and the UN said the coronavirus will be with us for a long time.
What do the 19 advise patients who have other communicable diseases (Covid-19 is one) like measles, chicken pox, HIV or TB? Go forth and multiply? They, who proudly publish their names (see footnote), ought to be charged for unethical conduct. I wouldn't go to them for medical advice.
The doctors consulted each other via WhatsApp. This is how quacks make decisions - not on data and facts but emotion and social media (but doctors don't like patients looking up ailments on the Internet which often is better than the diagnoses they make). These are practising doctors. Thankfully, my family and I don't attend them.
WhatsApp, like all social media platforms, is not a reliable method of communicating serious ideas. More importantly, it indicates the 19 have not interrogated the information that's available, and they are not as well read as they ought to be for doctors even regarding information available in the media. Using their WhatsApp group, they forum shopped a social position, an agenda, based on their social connection - class of 93 - rather than the science and their professional ethics using social media to do it. I'm guessing they're members of a Facebook class of 93 too.
Like the Wits academics who recently also called for ending the lockdown, they're touting a political agenda. As doctors on the subject of epidemics they have no credibility and ought to keep their counsel before they do more harm, e.g, patients asking if they can disobey isolation whether or not they have Covid-19 or any other communicable disease. None of the 19 are epidemiologists or virologists. Like like Wit's academics' in The Conversation, it's heavy on sentiment and has no relevant medical facts.
The British government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) and numerous other experts said scientists are still learning about this coronavirus and the disease it causes, Covid-19. Data about how it's transmitted globally and in communities including in South Africa, is still unknown. Every day credible scientists and leaders, e.g. Angela Merkel, a scientist by training, and Jacinda Ardern, are saying and doing the right things: let the evidence speak and guide us.
Last week Helen Ward, a professor of public health at Imperial College, wrote in The Guardian the British government ignored their advice to lockdown. "The 'science around coronavirus is in its infancy and developing daily, with researchers across the world trying to understand how the virus spreads ... But while scientists carry out observations and experiments, testing, iterating and discovering new knowledge, it is the role of policymakers to act on the best available evidence".
Yesterday on e-TV's 1pm news an expert said after "lockdown we're expecting a deluge of cases", i.e. previously unreported cases. South Africa, like western hemisphere countries except Germany, Iceland and one or two others, are not doing nearly sufficient tests. The government has had two months - March and April - not counting February when like the west they ignored the epidemic, but still tardy, acting like there's a tomorrow, the old SA way. Without examination and evaluating, whatever the discipline but especially medicine, there's no way to determine the vectors.
It's obvious that many of SA's society including so-called experts and commentators on local media don't have a clue what this pandemic is, preferring the fog of ignorance. But they blissfully jump into the unknown and assert everyone else - government and epidemiologists around the world - is getting it wrong.
Rationality and fact-based evidence must count for something, now more than ever, but it seems to be in short supply. They're really saying: go out and work, shop and socialise, stand a great risk of catching the virus and spreading it to someone else - spouse, children, family, friends and colleagues. That's how exponential infections occur. Each person infected with the coronavirus spreads it to 2-2.5 others without isolation. This is not like the seasonal flu or even SARS, it's far worse. The infected have mild symptoms that incubate for up to 14 days, or it's spread without an infected person showing symptoms (asymptomatic). The fatality rate is about 3% and quick for compromised patients - 18 days.
If I had the energy and if the HPCSA wasn't incompetent and corrupt I'd report the 19 for promoting quack medicine and practising beyond their competence.
Footnote: the 19 doctors:
Footnote: the 19 doctors:
Zunaid Barclay, Nephrologist, Cape Town;
Ingrid de Beer, General Practitioner, Cape Town;
Perrin Hansen, Paediatric Neurologist, Johannesburg;
Chris Hofmeyr, ENT Surgeon, Cape Town;
Riaz Ismael, General Practitioner, Cape Town;
Hilary Johnstone, Clinical Research, George;
Ebrahim Kader, Neuro and General Interventionalist, Cape Town;
Tracy Kilborn, Paediatric Radiology, Cape Town;
Feizal Majiet, General and Occupational Medical Practitioner, Cape Town;
Thane Munting, Orthopaedic Surgeon, Cape Town;
Simon Pickstone-Taylor, Psychiatrist, Western Cape;
Jenny Potts, Specialist Physician and Rheumatologist, Port Elizabeth;
Neil Richards, Family Physician, Cape Town;
Nandi Siegfried, Public Health Physician, Cape Town;
Chantal Simonis, Consultant in Reproductive Medicine, Southampton;
Kerstin Simons, Consultant Vascular Surgeon, Tutzing, Germany;
Paul Sinclair, Paediatrician, Cape Town;
Fred Tyler, Urologist, East London; and
Kathleen Van der Westhuizen, General Practitioner, Cape Town
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