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The first thing you want when you get permanent employment with benefits is to get a medical aid. You've always hated your teeth and now you can finally find a way to pay for the dentist. Also, when you are thinking of starting a family and are scared of the expensive monthly gynecologist visits, the R30 000 hospital bill and the R10 000 gynecologist fee for delivery of the baby and that R2 000 bill for the pediatrician when the baby is born.  What if I told you that you could sign up for medical aid and still pay for all those costs + the medical aid from your own pocket?  The medical aid is allowed to put you on a waiting period for 3-12 months.  Listen to the podcast for further clarity on this.  Enjoy!!

Patients want to have easy access to healthcare. The clinic/ pharmacy/ hospital should be in close proximity to the private residence. More importantly, the patient wants to access all the necessary medicines and procedures at that very facility without being referred to a different facility that ay be far away and inconvenient for them.  Unfortunately healthcare is graded and the higher we go is the more complicated and expensive it gets.  FAQs Why doesn't the pharmacy (medical aid) accept a prescription from my optometrist?  Why does the clinic dispense medicines from my clinic book but ask that the doctor writes a separate prescription if the item is out-of-stock and I have to get it from the local pharmacy?  Why do nurses in the ward wait and/or call the doctor for instructions yet more than 5000 clinics in the country are run by nurses?  Why does the hospital fly/drive me to a different city for my operation instead of buying the necessary equipment?  This podcast aims to answer these questions and more.  Enjoy!!

In South Africa there are state (or government) hospitals and then there area private hospitals. Society generally has the opinion that private healthcare is superior to public health. This is largely due to it being exclusive as it costs more and isn't accessible to most of the general public. Only +/-19% of South Africans are on medical aid and these are the people that access private healthcare.  FAQs I was at the hospital to give birth. The lady next to me had her gynecologist (OBGYN) but he refused to help me. Why? Why can't my OBGYN also see my baby after birth? I had to pay separately for the pediatrician. How is it that private hospital doctors can't treat you holistically? You have to see a different doctor for each different ailment.  This podcast will answer these questions and more.  Enjoy!!

Often patients are confused by a doctor referring them to another doctor. Why does this happen? Does it mean you made a bad decision going to the first doctor? Should you now rather go to the specialist doctor whenever you get ill in the future?  Gynecologist (General) Surgeon  Orthopedic specialist Dentist Pediatrician Neurologist These are some of the common names for specialists. It is important to understand that healthcare has been separated into the easier cases and the complicated cases. Doctors (general practitioners) see patients who suffer from common ailments but when these get complicated then a doctor that specializes in that particular disease should rather look at the case. As you may have guessed it by now, GPs are much cheaper than specialists for this reason.  I hope you enjoy this episode and that it makes this clearer for you. 

In this episode we speak about the common translation of the word optometrist to eye doctor. This is probably okay in layman terms but it is concerningly incorrect. The word doctor brings certain expectations to the patient. Patients, because they do not know any better, may go to an optometrist whereas they should be going to see a general practitioner or an ophthalmologist.  What is the difference and why the fuss?  We explain all this in detail in the podcast. Enjoy. 

We look at the definition of AD and it’s signs and symptoms.

Social Media has made it seem like the majority is not vaccinating.  The benefits of vaccines far outweigh the occurrence of side effects. Severe side effects, such as rare/unique types of blood clots associated with the JnJ and heart inflammation associated with the Pfizer are very uncommon. For JnJ, there are 3 cases for every million doses among adults and 8 cases of Guillain-Bare Syndrome for every million doses among adults.  How do these occurrences compare to hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths?  There 7-8 cases for every 11 800 people being hospitalized.  There are 7-8 cases for every 3 300 ICU admissions. There are 7-8 cases for every 2 300 deaths.

The Immune System Many ask what it is that happens after you inject a vaccine. How exactly do vaccines work? What is immunity and for how long does it last? If babies get antibodies that protect against infectious diseases from a mothers breast milk then why do we need to vaccinate? Let us try to answer these questions in the simplest manner possible. To do this we will need to divide the immune system into 3. We will call these the innate immune system, the adaptive immune system and the memory part of the immune system. The vaccine is injected either under the skin (subcutaneous e.g. Measles, Yellow fever), into the skin (intra-dermal e.g BCG vaccine) or into a muscle (intra-muscular e.g Hepatitis B, PCV, DT, Td, TT, DTwP, DTaP, Hib). Some vaccines like the Polio Vaccine and Rotavirus are given orally.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability  that can cause significant social, communication and behavioral challenges. There is often nothing about how people with ASD look that sets them apart from other people, but people with ASD may communicate, interact, behave, and learn in ways that are different from most other people. The learning, thinking, and problem-solving abilities of people with ASD can range from gifted to severely challenged. Some people with ASD need a lot of help in their daily lives; others need less. People with ASD often have problems with social, emotional, and communication skills. They might repeat certain behaviors and might not want change in their daily activities. Many people with ASD also have different ways of learning, paying attention, or reacting to things. Signs of ASD begin during early childhood and typically last throughout a person’s life. Children or adults with ASD might: not point at objects to show interest (for example, not point at an airplane flying over) not look at objects when another person points at them have trouble relating to others or not have an interest in other people at all avoid eye contact and want to be alone have trouble understanding other people’s feelings or talking about their own feelings prefer not to be held or cuddled, or might cuddle only when they want to appear to be unaware when people talk to them, but respond to other sounds be very interested in people, but not know how to talk, play, or relate to them repeat or echo words or phrases said to them, or repeat words or phrases in place of normal language have trouble expressing their needs using typical words or motions not play “pretend” games (for example, not pretend to “feed” a doll) repeat actions over and over again have trouble adapting when a routine changes have unusual reactions to the way things smell, taste, look, feel, or sound lose skills they once had (for example, stop saying words they were using)

We look at the definition of the neuro-developmental disorder called ADD & ADHD focusing on the top 3 symptom groups of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity.  We note the importance of the holistic approach prior to getting to a diagnosis. This looks at the patient's medical history developmental history psycho-social history assessment of co-existing medical conditions comparing behavior from different settings mental health of parents exploring misuse of substances like illicit drugs or energy drinks.   ADHD impairs the patient's social, academic, personal and occupational function. It is not to be taken lightly or ignored. There's treatment for it and we look at the treatment options and prices.  Also, we had a patient that called in to share her touching experience

In this episode we look at the general link between diseases and medicines.  Who comes up with different disease conditions for humans because it seems like our pets and animals don't suffer a similar fate? Is it just nature? When we have given the disease a name, does nature equally provide a treatment/ cure?  Pharmaceutical Manufacturing companies research new medicines but governments impose strict laws and regulations for them to be able to market a quality product that will cause no harm to the patients that take them. Is this really possible though? Is there such a think as a medicine without a side effect?  Do you agree with the regulations or do you think that they are put in place to prevent indigenous medicines from being on the shelves of big retail companies? Should communities trust medicines that are manufactured and packaged under sub standard conditions? Have a listen at this podcast for answers.  

In this episode we look at the definition of medical aid and highlight that it is medical insurance. This means all submitted claims are according to the scheme rules. The hospitals, doctors and pharmacists aren't simply claiming items against a budget like with a credit card. All items claimed on medical aid must comply with the scheme rules.  Medical Aids are regulated by the Medical Schemes Council (MSC) and they stipulate all the rights of members and all the responsibilities of medical schemes. We celebrate the recent win by the ICPA (Independent Community Pharmacists Association) to allow members to choose which service provider they want to use to collect their chronic treatment from.  Did you know that medical schemes have to pay for all conditions listed as Prescribed Minimum Benefits (PMBs)? These include chronic conditions like hypertension, asthma & epilepsy but also includes medical emergencies that the medical aid simply can't refuse to pay regardless of how low your option is. We explain concepts like medical saving accounts (MSA), threshold benefits, above threshold, acute funds, chronic fund & OTC fund.  Listen to find out more,