| Popis: |
Providing proper medical care under the laws of racial segregation in South Africa in the 1930s and 1940s involved facing medical and ethical problems. The physician, especially in rural areas, had to take care of a myriad of populations: poor "black" tribal people with little or no education, farmers in remote farms and affluent and better educated "Europeans", without an infrastructure of hospitals and even pharmacies. The lone physician had to make medical decisions on the spot, without being able to consult with other doctors, while maintaining high human, medical and ethical standards. Dr. Jack Karpas, started as a country physician in rustic areas and gained experience in larger hospitals while treating a variety of populations with numerous medical conditions. He later established a prosperous medical practice in Parow (near Cape Town), before immigrating to Israel in 1951. In this excerpt from his memoirs, Dr. Jack Karpas relates some of the exotic incidents and medical problems he encountered. |
