Birthing in a state hospital what’s it really like?

DESPITE NEWS OUTLET hysteria around the implementation of NHI (national health insurance), which will theoretically force the collapse of our private healthcare industry, most of us 57 million ordinary South Africans use the government healthcare system.

After all, only about 10 million South Africans belong to the medical-aid schemes that make private hospitals accessible to ordinary citizens. And this is not necessarily a bad thing.

Even though the state healthcare system is ailing, and there have been significant failings (remember the Life Esidimeni tragedy?), there are also pockets of excellence. The doctors and nurses you’ll see in the private sector are the same ones who once practised or still practise in the state (because all doctors are state-trained, and many remain there, at least part-time). It’s also only