South Africa: Zithulele Hospital tensions boil over as loss of doctor angers E Cape community

A decision to remove Dr Nick Fine, a family medicine specialist, from one of South Africa’s iconic rural hospitals and send him to a large academic hospital in Mthatha has led to a debilitating strike that caused the shutdown of the hospital and the evacuation of patients to other facilities.

It has been two years since Zithulele Hospital, which became known as a well-functioning rural hospital under the leadership of Dr Karl le Roux, now a DA member of parliament, and Dr Ben Gaunt, was…