Saint Hla Tun at Benedictine Hospital

Dr. Makhanya is the medical manager and currently the acting hospital manager, which is the big boss of the hospital. The hospital manager oversees the nursing manager, the medical managing, etc. Dr. Makhanya recently became the medical manager this past year and grew up in Johannesburg (Joberg), South Africa.

He gave me an expedited tour of the hospital and explained to me that I will operate mainly in the antiretroviral (ARV) clinic during my stay. I will glimpse the initial presentation of HIV as waves of patients with common medical ailments (diabetes, hypertension, stroke, trauma, obesity, etc) pass through the outpatient department (OPD), then follow through the education of HIV/AIDS to patients with possible infection in the voluntary counseling and treatment (VCT), and finally observe the treatment of HIV/AIDS when CD4 count drops below 200 in the ARV clinic. Thus I will be part of how ARV is dispensed from the beginning of presentation to the management of a pandemic in a poor-resourced region.

Moments later, I entered Room 3 of the outpatient department (OPD) where Dr. Hla Tun provides consistent and efficient treatment to the people of Nongoma and surrounding communities. He welcomed me with an immediate, excited “hello” and a genuine smile. He vaguely knew I was coming, but did not know when, who, or why.

Originally from Burma, Dr. Hla Tun has made Nongoma his home for the past ~15 years on and off. When he first came to South Africa in 1991, HIV/AIDS had yet to destroy a generation of people, but Apartheid was suffocating the people of South Africa. With ten years of experience as a licensed physician (MBBS) in Burma, he had come to Africa to serve the needs of rural people and travel the world as a young man. The previous three years before coming to South Africa, he had devoted his life in Zambia as a United Nations Physician Volunteer. His experiences in Zambia opened up opportunities to continue his work in rural South Africa. He officially joined the faculty of Benedictine Hospital in 1993 with short stints in Singapore to obtain a Public Health Certificate. Currently he is the chief medical officer of the hospital, a parallel position to Dr. Makhanya.

Dr. Hla Tun with his choppy Zulu talk and fluent English is still a 52 year young bachelor who is extremely well respected and love by the hospital staff and the people of Nongoma. He has a beautiful empty home in Burma awaiting his return, but for now he is beginning to apply for his South African citizenship – a process that takes nearly three years. In the past he had refused to become a South African citizen and the Medical Manager of Benedictine hospital because he never meant to stay in South Africa beyond a few years. But time tends to move surreptitiously in Africa. Furthermore his income in South Africa provides much more for his mother, four sisters and countless nieces and nephews in Burma. Known for his kindness, he recently bought four diamond rings for his four sisters.

That kindness ushered me into his small clinic office, equipped with only a regular table, examining table, and office filing cabinet. His enrolled nursing assistant (ENA), Safiso stood next to him with confidence, but welcoming smile as eager patients wait just outside the door.

I sat down next to Dr. Hla Tun and subsequently began my clinical experience at Benedictine Hospital.