BTF Podcast

Technology has revolutionized healthcare. The technology we have today allows us to understand much more about our health and our health system using technology, than ever before.

But yet, millions of people still suffer from completely preventable diseases worldwide each year. Many health systems are on the brink of collapse.

Cleary technology is not the only answer to addressing all the problems in healthcare.

So what role does digital health play in improving healthcare access and delivery? What exactly is digital health anyway? How do we use digital health in a way that does not leave behind the poor or technologically illiterate? 

How has Covid-19 impacted all of this?

In this episode of the BTF podcast, I chat with Dr Benji Ozynski, to try to make sense of digital health solutions during Covid and beyond. Benji is a medical doctor and the Director of Business Development of Wits Healthcare Innovation, he is also and a co-founder of Market Mx. Benji discovered his passion for entrepreneurship after starting his first business in medical school, and is working to build a career integrating business, health and technology.

The Wits Healthcare Innovation (WHI) was established to catalyse the implementation and creation of scalable, patient-centred and technology-driven solutions within the healthcare ecosystem of South Africa and beyond. WHI is a division of Wits Health Consortium and consists of a diverse, multi-talented team working to further the digital transformation of healthcare within South Africa, change the culture within healthcare and make a positive social impact.

Benji, is changing the world.

Please remember to rate and subscribe wherever you enjoy your podcasts. I look forward to your comments and reviews and you are welcome to send me a voice note using the links below to be featured in future episodes.

Together, let's figure out how to change the world.

Children are not prone to severe covid complications, but this doesn’t mean that the pandemic hasn’t affected them. What is the impact of the pandemic and lockdown on their physical, psychological and social development?

The pandemic has affected many people’s mental health. How do we recognize that our kids might be struggling with their mental health during this time? How can we best support them? When should we seek professional help?

When it came to returning kids to school, people had mixed views. On the one hand, we want to protect them, and the teachers, from COVID. On the other hand, schooling is an integral part of their development and often much more than just education.

In this episode of The Behind the Frontline podcast, I chat with child health educator, Dr Carmen, to try and make sense of the impact COVID has on child health.

Dr Carmen is a medical researcher working with Covid vaccine trials. She is a woman and child health advocate and provides up-to-date information to parents about child health, and since the beginning of lockdown, accurate and easy to understand information about COVID

Dr Carmen, is changing the world.

Together, let's figure out how to change the world.

Do you think frontline healthcare workers heroes? 

What's the problem with calling them 'heroes'? A hero never tires. A hero is not overworked. A hero isn't fearful that they will transmit a deadly infectious to their granny. The label of hero adds to the burnout many frontline healthcare workers are feeling.

What's the problem with the term burnout?

It places the fault on the individual's flaws (bottom-up), rather than on the underlying health system failures (top-down).

Frontline HCWs are already highly resilient workers due to the nature of their training and the tough working conditions. However, they feel overworked due to inadequacies in the health system. They are plagued with moral injury when they can't deliver the best possible patient care due to constrained resources - especially during a peak of a COVID wave. These factors could lead to physical and mental health challenges resulting in so-called "burnout".

Frontline healthcare workers are told to 'build their resilience' in order to cope better. But would adding a little resilience really solve the failures of the health system?

What are your thoughts? Should we call frontline healthcare workers 'heroes'? What support should we be giving them? Let me know in the comments.

In this episode of the  BTF podcast, we unpack some of the challenges facing frontline healthcare workers since the pandemic. My special guest is Dr Precious Chikura. Precious junior doctor currently completing her community service. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Precious started an NGO called the 'Frontline Refuge' that provides free mental healthcare services for healthcare workers. She is passionate about improving health care outcomes for women and children and empowering communities to be self-determined via healthcare and business.

Together, let's figure out how to change the world.

Have you ever heard a doctor say to a grieving family member, “I’m sorry, there’s nothing more that we can do?”. It’s usually in the context of someone who is terminally ill and death is around the corner. 

My next guest on Behind the Frontline podcast seeks to remove this saying from medicine. Because in medicine, there’s always something that can be done. And while it may be true that someone who is terminally ill may not recover from their illness, palliative care – which is the specialized medical care for people living with a serious illness – offers much more to a person than just medication. Palliative care is about treating people and their families holistically, it’s about empowering them to make informed decisions, it’s about restoring dignity.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many people to comes to terms with the death of close family and friends members. On the previous podcast about COVID & mental health, we heard how one person lost 16 people to COVID. 

What are the implications for palliative care during the COVID-19 pandemic? What can we learn from it moving forward? What are the great innovations created during this time?

These are the questions I will put to my next guest, Dr Clint Cupido. Dr Cupdio is an experienced specialist internal medicine physician  at Victoria Hospital in Cape Town. He has a keen interest in palliative care and runs the palliative care unit at the hospital - affectionately called 'Abundant Life'.

The work Dr Cupido does to improve restore the dignity of our seriously ill in our community is inspiring. 

Dr Cupido, is changing the world.

Please remember to rate and subscribe wherever you enjoy your podcasts. I look forward to your comments and reviews and you are welcome to send me a voice note using the links below to be featured in future episodes.

Together, let's figure out how to change the world.

With the COVID-19 vaccine rollout started, many people have questions about it. Is it safe? Does it work? What is the government doing to protect me? There are also multiple equity considerations about how the vaccine is distributed amongst nations and within each country as well.

In this episode, my guest and I will try to answer common FAQs about the COVID-19 vaccines, dispel myths and provide an overview of the equity considerations. I am delighted to introduce the special guest for the episode, Dr Indira Govender. Dr Govender is a Public Health specialist and Clinical Research Fellow at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Dr Govender has vast experience both academically and clinically. She has previously worked for MSF (AKA Doctors without Borders) in South Sudan, as well as on the frontline during the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone. She is currently based at the Africa Health Research Institute in Somkhele, KZN South Africa, where her population-based research interest is TB infection control in health facilities.

I look forward to your questions and comments. You're welcome to leave a voice note in the links below that will be featured in future episodes. Don't forget to rate and subscribe wherever you enjoy your podcasts. 

PS: keep trying to change the world.

1 in 10 people are currently suffering from depression and 1 in 5 with an anxiety disorder.

Mental health challenges are increasingly being recognized as an important global health concern. Nobody is immune. It can affect anyone. There is not a single person that can that they have not been impacted by the COVID19 pandemic in one way or the other.

What is the overall effect of the COVID19 pandemic on our mental health? What is the psychological toll of a forced lockdown, economic insecurity, fake news and a continuous state of anxiety? Who are the people that are most affected?

These are some of the questions I will be unpacking with our special guest today. In this episode of the behind the frontline podcast, I speak with Professor Grobler. Prof Grobler is a psychiatrist with more than 20 years of clinical experience in psychiatry and workplace mental health. He is an academic and mental health advocate and in his opinion, every day should be mental health awareness day at work.

Together we will try to highlight the mental health challenges related to the pandemic, to celebrate some of the great solutions being done to improve mental health and look ahead to mental wellness beyond the pandemic.

Please remember to rate and subscribe wherever you enjoy your podcasts. I look forward to your comments and reviews and you are welcome to send me a voice note using the links below to be featured in future episodes.

Together, let's figure out how to change the world.

Hello and welcome to behind the frontline podcast, the podcast that asks the very simple question, ‘how can we change the world?’ I’m your host, Dr Adil Khan. In this season, I will be chatting to expert guests to try to understand how COVID19 impacts society in different ways. I hope to share the insights of these great minds with you and hope to inspire you to ‘change the world’.

Imagine having a ‘hospital’ in your home. Why would anyone want this? Well, hospitals are, ironically inhospitable places, actually. There are a growing number of so-called superbugs which are only found there. People often develop other medical problems while they are admitted. And not to mention the extremely high cost of hospital treatment, both in the public and private sector.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we became acutely aware of how hazardous the hospital environment actually is. We developed anxiety when needing to go to the hospital in fear of contracting COVID. We heard horror stories of family members bringing loved ones to the hospital because of COVID and not being able to see them at all due to restrictions.

Quro medical is a digital health company that is challenging this status quo. In this health tech feature, I speak with founder and CEO, Dr Vuyane Mhlomi. We learn how Quro leverages cutting-edge remote monitoring technology to solve the complex problem of our over-reliance on hospitals to administer healthcare.

Please remember to rate and subscribe wherever you enjoy your podcasts. I look forward to your comments and reviews and you are welcome to send me a voice note using the links below to be featured in future episodes.

Together, let's figure out how to change the world.

The 11th of March marks exactly one year since the World health organization announced the COVID-19 outbreak is considered a pandemic. Take yourself back to that period. Do you remember all the uncertainty we had? We weren’t sure how best to protect ourselves. We weren’t sure that we would have enough basic personal and protective equipment for our frontline healthcare workers. It was during this period of uncertainty, that a few organizations stood out and helped us make sense of the chaotic times. One of these organizations, is Hope4Health. Hope4Health is an NPO that has special interests in the health sector. They are advocates for access to equitable health and strongly champion practical health education for all. Since lockdown began, the hope4health team has run various COVID-19 education engagements and community-based interventions. 

Hope4Health is changing the world.

In this episode, I speak Hope4health founder, Josias Naidoo. Josias is a well-known public health advocate and has been instrumental to the success of the organization over the past year. We celebrate the successes of the organization, highlight their current challenges and look ahead at the public health opportunities for them beyond COVID.

Please remember to rate and subscribe wherever you enjoy your podcasts. I look forward to your comments and reviews and you are welcome to send me a voice note using the links below to be featured in future episodes.

Together, let's figure out how to change the world.

The Behind the Frontline podcast celebrates people doing great things in healthcare. In this special feature episode, I chat with a trail-blazing junior Doctor. At 21 years old only, Dr Thakgalo Thibela is the youngest qualified medical doctor in South Africa. She matriculated at a mere 15 years of age and completed her MBCHB at WITS. Currently performing her internship, what are some of the challenges associated with this label of ‘the youngest qualified medical doctor’? Is it a burden or is it an opportunity? What lies ahead for someone with such obvious and tremendous drive and potential? These are some of the questions we unpack.

Please remember to rate and subscribe wherever you enjoy your podcasts. I look forward to your comments and reviews and you are welcome to send me a voice note using the links below to be featured in future episodes.

Together, let's figure out how to change the world.

The first season is all about COVID-19. COVID has challenged society in many different ways. We were simply not ready for it. But 1 year on, what have learned? Who is affected more severely than others? How can we overcome it? Who are the people and organizations working towards solutions?

These are the questions I will try to answer with the help of my guests in this season. I’m looking forward to sharing the insights of people that are at the top of their fields. We will look at the COVID vaccines, COVID and mental health, COVID and gender and COVID and equity considerations. A strong emphasis of the season, and the podcast in general, is to dispel myths and misinformation. Each episode will chat about common myths and untruths.

The podcast will have 2 special features each season – 1 to celebrate an individual doing great things in healthcare and 1 health-tech focus. This season, I’m delighted to chat with Dr Thakgalo Thibela, the youngest qualified medical doctor in South Africa. At only 21 years old her passion for healthcare is inspiring. The health-tech feature in this season focuses on a local digital health company called Quro Medical. I speak with the founder and CEO Dr Vuyane Mhlomi to share the intuitive solutions their company offers and his vision for the future of health-tech in SA and in low and middle-income countries.

For more content, visit www.btfdocumentary.com