At this time last year I published a similar post reflecting on the happenings of 2022. It is interesting to reflect on what I said then in the light of what has transpired in 2023. In December of 2022, the echoes of COVID-19 still remained, something that has now almost vanished from the public consciousness despite reports of new variants, similar to the amnesia that may follow a very traumatic event. In Britain, however, the country continues to anguish over the consequences of what was and what was not done during the pandemic in the public hearings of a commission of inquiry into the actions of those in positions of…
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Cystic fibrosis … the conundrum of scientific progress
I recently read a review article on cystic fibrosis which highlighted for me the tremendous advances in the field of medicine since I left active clinical practice as a paediatrician in 1995. During my training as a paediatrician and subsequently as a senior research fellow I worked for various periods in a clinic at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital that managed children with cystic fibrosis. As a result of this experience when in 1983 I moved to Bloemfontein, I started a similar clinic to manage children with the condition in the Free State province. Over the 12 years that I spent in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at…