The Case of the "Missing(?!?)" CT Scanner.

Kalafong hospital is the public hospital where Serithi (my research team) is based and I spend some clinical time on the wards.

When you arrive at Kalafong hospital, you drive up to a gate where a guard comes out and asks why you are there. He checks in the boot of your car to make sure there isn't anything contraband and asks if you have a laptop or anything to declare. If you do, you have to write it on a check-in sheet so when you leave, they don't think you stole it. When you do leave, you stop again at the gate. They check the boot. Then they let you out. This procedure is pretty standard at the public hospitals. I do a similar routine each morning at Stanza, the health center in which I work.

Recently, they've had a crack down at Kalafong. NOW when you leave you have to get out of your car. Open the boot yourself. They look inside the car and all your bags more thoroughly. I didn't think much of it. But then I heard an explanation for the increased security from a med student friend:

"Someone stole a CT scanner."

Most of you will hear this and have the same reaction as I did: "That can't possibly be true!"

This would be justified with a sequence of thoughts likely starting with, "How the hell would you steal a CT scanner??" After all, a CT scanner is a very large machine. Probably the size of a a small boat and heavy as electronics can be!

This thought might be followed by more musings such as "Who would want a CT scanner? ... Could they really sell it somewhere to get money? ...How would someone in that market even how to set up the electronics for such a complicated machine?" And so on.

These thoughts reveal our ignorance and disbelief of the extent and inner workings of theft and crime. However, when compared to the first thoughts of a South African medical student, they also provide a sobering commentary.

Their thought process starts the same as ours: "That can't possibly be true!"

"Exactly!" we think as we ready ourselves to discuss the logistics of stealing the machine. But then their insight unexpectedly changes course and leaves us, well, speechless and contemplative even though the comment was merely intended for and succeeded at bringing out a chuckle from the group:

"...There is no way a SA public hospital EVER had a CT scanner!"