Dr Veruschka José Bryant

29/09/2024

💔 It is with a heavy heart that we mark the sudden and unexpected loss of my Wits university class mate, friend and colleague, Dr. Sandoshni Pillay.
Sandy's passing this Thursday came as a shock and has been difficult to process.
The funeral service will be held today, the 29th of September 2024 from 9am SAST .
For those who may not be able to attend the funeral service, it will be livestreamed on youtube. Link below:

https://youtube.com/live/_Dly5PBgIQI?feature=share

Dr Pillay was an extraordinary health professional who made it her career's calling to serve in public healthcare.

As a friend, Sandy was a truly sincere and spiritual person, who despite the many upheavals of life and the separation that busy lives creates, always found time to check in on you if it looked like something wasn't going well, and was the first to acknowledge and celebrate your wins.

My heartfelt condolences to her husband, Dan, and her two lovely girls. Strength and love to you during this unimaginably difficult time.

Our sweet Sandy, may your beautiful soul be blessed with eternal peace. 🙏🏾🌸

13/09/2024

WISDOM TEETH SURGERY 😬 A FEW IMPORTANT DO'S AND DONTS
Here are a few tips on what to do and not do immediately after oral surgery for wisdom teeth.

‼️ Disclaimer: This video is solely for educational and entertainment purposes only. It is not meant as medical advice or as a substitute for medical advice.
It is not meant as a replacement for any instructions you may have received from your own healthcare provider OR the comprehensive instructions we may have issued you if you are our patient.

To book a consultation: Call Us 📞 011 875 1710
8am to 2pm Monday to Friday

27/03/2024

It is said that if surgeon's had alter-egos, it would be "Benevolent Darth Vader" - all the personality with none of the Death Star stuff 🤣

My "Darth" is an oddity with a soul that's partly in the sciences and partly in the humanities. Weird, I know.

So this year we decided to go back to school to study Bioethics and Health Law.
We are currently reading Moral Philosophy and writing reams of essays 😄. Imagine that!

What are you currently reading or doing that actuates who you are and makes your mind come alive? (It could be something you'd want to read, study or do if you had the chance. )

05/12/2023

I applaud Salma Blair for speaking out. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾.

The medical establishment has a highly problematic history of patriarchal education systems that lay the foundation for gender and race bias.

Sadly, when symptoms are reported by women, it is more likely to be dismissed as being "in their heads". Studies show that women of colour are disproportionately affected by medical bias and are more likely to experience dismissal of their symptoms and to receive inferior pain control when they report pain.

Women who report unexplained pain and pain syndromes are often not investigated properly and subjected to condescending attitudes from their doctors.
We might not be able to change the minds of the old guard, but there is new hope.
More socially conscious women are rising to prominence in clinical disciplines.
Many of whom themselves suffer conditions that were dismissed or minimised .

We can eradicate bias and the medical gaslighting of women if we resolve to stand together and put health issues that disproportionately affect women squarely on the agenda.

03/12/2023

Every morning, I am awoken by my profoundly disabled little brother who wants me to fix him breakfast.

And every morning of late, as he tugs at my hand and his big vulnerable brown eyes smile back at mine, I feel a deep hollow sensation in my chest that I can't shake.

I think of how at risk he is in this world.
He has never harmed a soul but this has never stopped this world from harming him.
As I think this my thoughts drift to children and adults who are like my little brother and are trying to survive the horror of war and mass destruction.

A feeling of sadness overtakes me, even as I smile at my brother and we both truddle off downstairs to boil a kettle.
I feel grateful in that moment that we are not in a war zone and that I can still protect him, but the disquiet in me never goes away.
Mentally and physically disabled people are amongst the most vulnerable people in the world. In war zones, that level vulnerability is exponentially increased and can barely be comprehended.

If you have never thought about disabled people in conflict zones, I hope you will take a moment today to do so.
To imagine what it must mean to be a mentally disabled person as missiles hurtle across the sky and crash down around you night and day. What it means for any disabled person as an apartment block collapses on top of you. What it means to lose your family and your caregivers.
What it means to be without mobility, access to water, food, shelter, medication, hygiene products & toilet facilities.

I pray we all find our humanity 🙏🏾

22/11/2023

TMD or TMJ disorders, and other types of jaw pain,
especially those presenting with a history of sudden onset, limitation of function and acute pain,
require prompt referral to a qualified specialist Maxillo-Facial Surgeon.

Delaying early referral of acute TMD can result in greater difficulty to treat and cause prolonged functional deficits.

If you are a patient who is not being referred appropriately, you have a right to demand a referral.
Remember, in South Africa, patients still have the legal right to self-refer to a specialist and to choose to see the doctor of their choice. (Medical Funders may limit your choices based on refusal to fund visits to non-network doctors, but this part of the agreed upon contract that you as their client agreed to. You still have the choice to self-fund if you do not wish to see a network provider. )

In the resource strapped, costly world of healthcare, we implore our colleagues to please not waste resources and raise unnecessary expenses for patients by conducting non-contributory tests trying to confirm conditions that simply do not correlate with the clinical presentation.

Unfortunately, we see this all too frequently with oro-facial conditions, where the paucity of subject knowledge in the medical training curriculum, results in millions of rands wasted in unnecessary tests, radiologic investigations, and multiple admissions for misdiagnosed conditions.
All of this has the effect of needlessly prolonging patient suffering.

8 out of 10 TMD patients who finally make their way to seeing us, do so after having been misdirected on a merry-go-round of multiple inappropriate disciplines over many financially and functionally costly months.
Those who finally arrive, often do so by self-referal, after having to resort to "google" to direct them appropriately.
Google doing a better job of referal should be a source of embarrassment to the medical establishment.

It costs the GP or other medical specialist nothing , to contact their Maxillo-Facial colleague and ask for advice or to just refer promptly, except a minor acknowledgement that they may not be an expert in cranio-maxillo-facial pathology. If anything, appropriate referal elevates the status of that doctor as one whom the patient can trust to have a high level of clinical insight and wisdom.
Arrogance and pride should not be the reason patient suffers.

It is important for doctors to remember that failing to appropriately refer a patient can open that clinician up to liability.

When in doubt, the responsible clinician seeks the opinion of an appropriate speciality and refers the patient if necessary - The emphasis being on "appropriate".

22/11/2023

Dear Doctors: Please stop treating disorders
with antivirals

29/06/2023

26/05/2023

Throwback to last weekend's amazing CPD symposium by MDConnexions at the CSIR.
It's not enough to rest on one's laurels as a postgraduate specialist. Staying current with new academic developments is the single most important thing we can do for our patients.

I had a great past weekend interacting with colleagues during breaks, whilst being intensively mentally stimulated, refreshed and updated by accomplished academics and speakers on key topics in diabetes, hypertension, obesity, opthalmology, thyroid disease and many more.

As the world grows increasing hostile for healthcare professionals to keep practicing, every one of us has felt despondent, even questioning if staying on this path is wise.
A meaningful symposium or congress can offer this amazing chance to re-energise and remember why we keep doing this work when there are so many easier, less stressful ways to live.
I felt reminded that doctors keep doctoring, because the profession selects for solid folk who don't shy away from hard work and harder roads.

Those who still keep the faith, fundamentally believe it is noble to care and seek to do good.
One can only feel proud of all our incredible colleagues, who despite the immense challenges and threats to healthcare , keep on keeping on.

17/05/2023

Happy Mother's Day to all the special mum's - those with us and not with us.

The mums whose love and sacrifice under unimaginable odds made the impossible journeys of their children possible.

My mum was exactly that kind of mum.

I pray that every child is as fortunate.

Thank you Mamma for all you were in this world.
I am, because you were.

(Photo: Colleges of Medicine of SA, March 2011, Fellow Admission Ceremony)

09/12/2022

Last night we had our Hospital Year-End function after 2 years of not having these events. And some of the incredible women Specialists of got to hang out, chew the fat and grab a 📸 photo together.

🙏🏽A shout out and thank you to all my women peers for many long-time friendships, for new friendships, but mostly for the fellowship - a sense of shared experience & cameraderie - especially in terms of the unique struggles women specialists navigate.

Thank you for believing in raising each other up rather than seeing each other as competitors.
This is what it means to be
women who genuinely and consciously support and respect other women.

(Of course, not all of our Hospital's women specialists are present in this photo, but those who are represent a diverse spectrum of specialties - ENT, Obs & Gynae, Maxillo-Facial Surgery, Nephrology, Dermatology.
All consummate professionals and lovely human beings. )