From the title, The Karma Suture, you may have guessed that this book had to be written by a medical doctor. If you are squeamish at all, you need to think twice before starting to read it. It is a first person account, a continuous flow of words on the true-to-life agonies of a medical doctor in a second-rate hospital. The author is from KwaZulu Natal, but the story takes place in one of Cape Town's overcrowded hospital wards.
Dr Sue Carey is a highly motivated young GP or general practitioner. Struggle and survival are the order of the day. She has finished her medical training and is now, at 24 years old, embarking on her "community service" (a bit like a form of Tirelo Setshaba (TS) for medical doctors in South Africa). She tries to find ways of saving patients under conditions of desperate pressure-too many patients, too few staff, inadequately equipped, a shortage of medicines and everyone is overworked. She can't stop thinking about her patients at night and tries to decide whether she has given them the best she is capable of. Her own emotional well-being often determines whether she can think clearly and coolly about the speedy choices she must make on the job.
