Saving Soweto
The series profiles "a day in the life" of the dedicated, but overworked doctors, staff, and nurses at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, located in the township of Soweto near Johannesburg, South Africa. Known as Bara by the locals, it is the world's largest hospital and serves a community of five million people. Each episode follows the committed staff as they deal with the health and social issues plaguing the community, from HIV/AIDS to crime-inflicted injuries.
- 2009-2010
- 1 season
- Documentary
The series profiles "a day in the life" of the dedicated, but overworked doctors, staff, and nurses at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, located in the township of Soweto near Johannesburg, South Africa. Known as Bara by the locals, it is the world's largest hospital and serves a community of five million people. Each episode follows the committed staff as they deal with the health and social issues plaguing the community, from HIV/AIDS to crime-inflicted injuries.
Season 1 Episode Guide
8 Episodes 2009
Episode 1
24 Hours of Trauma
Thu, Jan 1, 2009
Cameras follow Irish doctor Patrick MacGoey and intern Kaajal Pharboo through their 24 hour month-end shift in Bara's overburdened Trauma Unit where stabbings, rape, and motor vehicle accident victims are standard fare.
Episode 2
Overload
Medical Admission Ward 20 deals with all of Soweto's non-surgical medical emergencies. Doctors are constantly overwhelmed by the numbers of patients seeking help and in this ward, sixty to eighty percent of deaths are due to HIV and AIDS.
Episode 3
From the Cradle to the Grave
Three out of ten pregnant women have HIV in South Africa today. The Maternity Unit at Soweto's Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital delivers about seventy babies a day, many born with the disease and who come into the world with no say in their care or management of the disease.
Episode 4
Seeing the Light
Eye doctors at Bara's St John's Eye Clinic can treat up to a few hundred people a day. Patients can expect to wait most of the day in the queue to see a doctor. In this episode, we follow some of the doctors as they treat patients suffering from a wide variety of eye disorders and trauma.
Episode 5
Healing the Wounds
Dr. Adelin Muganza is head of Bara's Burn Unit. Mostly poverty related, accidental burns constitute two thirds of all his admissions; suicide attempts about five percent and the rest are due to assault. In the Trauma Unit, Dr Patrick MacGoey tries to save the life of a seven year-old girl, knocked down outside her home by an unlicensed driver.
Episode 6
Vital Organs
South Africa struggles with massive organ shortages urgently needed for patients awaiting transplant. At Bara, Organ Donor Coordinator Sister Matsie Pooe works hard to convince those in her community to defy their cultural beliefs and become donors.
Episode 7
Pandemic
About nine hundred South Africans are dying each day from HIV and AIDS. Getting people to admit they have the disease and onto treatment is a major stumbling block in the management of the continent-wide pandemic. "Pandemic" follows the doctors and nurses who are trying to treat the disease in spite of the stigma that surrounds it.
Episode 8
Intensive Care
A touching story from Bara's ICU about the hospital's longest running patient, Peter Bouhail, ill with a severe case Guillain-Barré Syndrome. His rehabilitation and friendship with the nurses is heart-warming and inspiring.