An Occasional Rural Miscellany

Dr John Wynn-Jones, Immediate Past Chair WONCA Working Party on Rural Practice wrote an occasional “rural miscellany” . Read more below:

I have a mixed bag of news for you today but before I go any further, I wanted once again to highlight the tragedy of the death of one of our Rural Seeds Ambassadors, Mustapha Aminu Tukur from Nigeria. It is always terrible when someone so young, so enthusiastic and so able is taken away from us. I enclose the memorial announcement from Wonca and again extend our deepest condolences to his family friends and colleagues.

Today’s Rural Miscellany brings you:

· A call from Family Doctors “to safeguard health from the climate emergency” from the Wonca Working Party on the Environment. Please read and share this as well as signing the petition. Remember that rural areas will be disproportional impacted by the crisis

· The results of a survey from the UK, outlining the significant impact of Long Covid on the medical workforce. The survey finds doctors face loss of income and employment owing to virus’s legacy. Long COVID is having a ‘devastating’ effect on doctors who have lost jobs, lost income and find even the most mundane tasks near-impossible owing to debilitating symptoms.

· A disturbing news item from the BBC of the impact of Nurse Migration on health care in Ghana

· The Agutaya Archipelago doctor who cares for 13,000 people on her own. The Agutaya archipelago a cluster of islands stranded in the middle of the Philippines’ Sulu Sea. For the 13,000 or so people who live here, Dr Alena, as they call her, is the only doctor.

· News of the proposed EU “No pay publishing model” Welcomed by academics but not by the publishing industry

Stay safe and well wherever to live and work

Best wishes
John Wynn-Jones