Q&A: COVID was ‘heart breaking’ says youngest doctor

虽然大多数她的年龄都在与朋友聚会，但Thakgalo Thibela正在约翰内斯堡最繁忙的一家医院磨碎。在实现了21日成为医生的梦想之后，蒂贝拉（Thibela）成为南非最年轻的女性执业医生。

Thibela, from Mpumalanga Province, completed high school at just 15 and six years later she graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand medical school.

Thibela, now 22, tellsscidev.net在约翰内斯堡的海伦·约瑟夫医院（Helen Joseph Hospital）的艰难条件下，长时间工作的时间教会了她欣赏生活。

在海伦·约瑟夫医院对您来说，典型的一天是什么样的？

去年，我正在做妇产科[怀孕和分娩]。当我打电话时，我会看到40至60名患者。这是第二天早上7点至凌晨7点。您必须对所有这些患者负责，您必须至少每四个小时或每两个小时看到他们，具体取决于他们的状况。这会耗尽，因为在看这些患者之间，您仍然需要去剧院。您会尽力见到所有人，但您无法分裂自己。

But when you have time to actually talk to them, you sit down and have a proper conversation, it makes you feel like, ‘OK, I’ve done everything I can for my patient’. In obstetrics, the longest call I’ve ever had was when I started at 7am and I only left the next day at about 1.30pm.

Listen as 22-year-old doctor Thakgalo Thibela tells Africa Science Focus what life in one of Johannesburg’s busiest hospitals is like during a COVID-19 wave.

Let’s talk a bit about that first moment that COVID-19 hit. Can you take me back to that time and what it was like?

当Covid-19在2020年击中时，我正在医学院的最后一年。这确实改变了我们必须被教给医学的方式，因为这是在疫苗时代之前。每个人都依靠口罩和消毒，并且由于19日，我们不允许这样做。

但是随后我在内科医学时撞到了第三波。这是最忙碌的旋转，因为您会看到从结核病到肺炎到肾衰竭和心力衰竭的每个人。我记得这是伤亡中的电话。我们通常有六个带氧气端口的房间，但是那天我们有大约三到四名试图共享一个氧气端口的患者。医院已经满了。您可以看到患者和家人的挫败感。知道我无能为力，对我来说是最糟糕的。这是最令人心碎的情况。

Are there any ways that becoming a doctor at 21 has significantly changed who you are?

It has made me a lot more responsible. I always joke about this with my friends – if they forget to do something, no life is lost, but if I make a mistake then the patient’s life is lost. So, it has made me realise nothing is too small. Nothing can really be left for later. I need to treat that person who is in front of me as if they were my mother or my father, or someone I really cared about. And if they were my mother, would I really wait to order that test tomorrow or should I order it now? I feel like it has really grown my compassionate side and my empathetic side. I have a greater appreciation of life.

作为一个年轻的黑人妇女试图进入科学领域，您如何设法克服肯定会妨碍您的一些障碍？

From a young age, I’ve always been an academic. I’ve always wanted to do my best. My mum reminds me that when I was in grade one or two, we had an exam, and I got 95 or 90 out of 100, and I cried the whole day because I missed the marks. I’ve always wanted to be the best. And because my [high school] teachers knew this, they were always expecting me to be the best. It really took a toll on me and I almost broke down. I was doing eight subjects and I’ve got seven distinctions. And that’s how I got into medical school [at the University of the Witwatersrand]. But, quite a few schools rejected me. I remember it was a Friday before registration was happening, I got a call in the afternoon at like 4pm [saying]: ‘Please come on Monday to register.’ It was so surreal to me.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

This piece was produced by SciDev.Net’s Sub-Saharan Africa desk.