Tom London says his angry rant about the shocking conditions at Helen Joseph Hospital in Joburg — and the reaction to it — has changed his life.
For the first time in over a month, the veteran broadcaster is breathing easy, out of hospital and recovering at home after being discharged on Friday.
“This whole incident has completely changed my life. I think speaking out loudly and complaining about something everybody knows is happening has resonated with a lot of people. I doubt there’s a single middle-aged or older person in this country who hasn’t experienced first-hand or witnessed in some way the dysfunction that is our public health-care system,” London said.
“So now my inbox is full of messages from people of all races and ages about the huge mistreatment that’s going on. From people with terrible and terrifying stories, who are too scared to speak out. It’s given me things to talk about, a focus. When I’m better I’m going to revive my old podcast, and I’m going to carry on speaking about these things that we need to change.”
If this all happened because I’m white, then it’s the media that is guilty of not paying the same attention to the complaints of people of other races.
— Tom London
London posted his video shortly before discharging himself from Helen Joseph, after 13 days there for treatment of a lung infection. In the video, he showed appalling conditions at the hospital, but spoke mostly about the shoddy treatment of patients by doctors — laughing and chatting over the screams of a man while giving him a lumbar puncture, and treating patients “like cockroaches”, with complete disdain and disrespect.
He spoke of watching the patient in the bed opposite him die shortly before he discharged himself, still suffering from a severe lung infection.
The post went viral and drew a wave of support that saw friends set up a Back-a-Buddy page that crowdfunded his life-saving surgery at a private hospital in Joburg’s Morningside last week. Some 561 people donated a total of R368,000. After commission to the fundraising site, London was left with R330,000. "My hospital bill, once labs, doctors, hospital, X-rays and physio are added up, is around 330K. So it worked out perfectly for me. A miracle actually,” said London.
“There’s been a push by friends to try and raise more for my post-op expenses, but I’ll get by the next few months, thanks to incredible clients and family. So I think I’ll stop the campaign next week.”
London used part of his crowdfunding to pay for the cremation of Nico van Burick, the man seen lying dead in his video.
Asked whether the viral attention and financial support he’d received could have been influenced by the fact that he is a white man, London maintained that it was because his complaint was valid and loud and focused more on patient treatment than broken facilities. “I’ve been asked this question a number of times. And I’ve been thrown it as a criticism that’s forced me to think intensively about it,” he said.
“I believe I got the viral views on my first video because of three things: the shocking nature of the visuals; the level of my anger that touched a nerve with the public that is experiencing the same thing; and because of my content creation skills and people I have crossed paths with in the media.
“If this all happened because I’m white, then it’s the media that is guilty of not paying the same attention to the complaints of people of other races. I didn’t say anything new. For years, it’s been known that people are going into public hospitals for procedures and coming out in body bags. It’s just the level of shock when I pointed it out that surprised me.”
He said people of all races thanked him for speaking out because many who wanted to do the same were too scared.
He said that on Friday he was approached in the hospital reception area by a black woman who was being admitted. “She thanked me for being outspoken about the treatment in state hospitals, and said black people were guilty of not speaking up about this issue. But my point is that the majority of people being mistreated in our hospitals just shut up and take it. Whites don’t really complain either, so perhaps I’m the exception to the general rule. White or black.”
London maintains the focus needs to remain on the issue rather than race. “I was challenged on Twitter (now X) to go to the Sandton taxi rank and check out the lack of lighting there. Challenged to do something about it. When I can walk, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. And if I see sh*t treatment or conditions, I’m going to shout loudly.”
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