TRC Final Report

Volume 4

Chapter 5

Subsection 20

■ RESISTANCE TO ABUSES

132 The Commission acknowledged that it was difficult for health professionals, particularly those with dual loyalties, to fight against the systemic human rights abuses that apartheid so deeply entrenched in the health sector. There were, however, many instances where people protested quietly or vociferously, and a few who put their careers and lives at risk in protest against violations of human rights. Many of the people who protested about the conditions under which health services were delivered or did not co-operate with state authorities were victimised in various ways. Some were fired from their jobs; others ruined their chances of promotion; some faced personal violence.⁴⁶

133 Many unknown and nameless health workers offered health care to injured ‘protesters’ in their own homes in the townships. Injury during an unrest situation meant automatic arrest and people who went to hospital, particularly with gunshot injuries, were often handed over to the police. These health workers placed themselves and their families at risk and, although the Commission was unable to name them, they deserve acknowledgement. They saved many lives and prevented many inappropriate arrests.

134 Although one can cite many such cases, the health profession as a whole was not outspoken enough in its protests against abuses.

Raids for medical files

135 During the period of unrest in the mid-1980s, Dr Tim Wilson,⁴⁷ who was the Chief Medical Officer at Alexandra Health Centre in Alexandra township outside Johannesburg, tried to prevent police from identifying so-called ‘terrorists’ (antiapartheid protesters) through the seizure of patients’ medical files. On many occasions, he refused to turn over the records. He also advised his staff that, while they could not obstruct police activities, they were under no obligation to help them. He told patients that, if they gave false names or addresses, nobody in the clinic would attempt to verify them, thus making it safer for people to obtain medical treatment with less fear of subsequent detention.⁴⁸

Baragwanath doctors

136 A letter signed by 101 doctors from Baragwanath Hospital (historically an African hospital) was published in the South African Medical Journal (SAMJ) of 5 September 1987, protesting the appalling conditions in the hospital:

(T)he facilities are completely inadequate. Many patients have no beds and sleep on the floor at night and sit on chairs during the day. The overcrowding is horrendous. Nurses are allocated according to the number of beds, and not to the number of patients.⁴⁹

137 The Transvaal Provincial Authority (TPA) claimed that the doctors’ statement was inaccurate and demanded an apology from them. Most doctors signed the letter of apology, later published in the SAMJ, because they believed that they could face personal victimisation if they did not do so. Six doctors, however, refused to sign the apology because they did not believe that they had made inaccurate statements. They were subsequently denied their previously approved posts at the hospital. One of the six doctors, Dr Beverly Traub, brought the matter to the Supreme Court and was later reinstated.