Dr. Yumna Moosa, a graduate medical student from the University of Cape Town, has exposed an old boys club that fostered racism, sexism, and protected those who partook in these prejudices. In a YouTube video, Moosa exposes the sheer ignorance from two of her managers, with one being a distinguished department director.
Moosa also logged a complaint against an associate after she was sexually harassed by him. The lackadaisical treatment of her and her substantiated complaints exhibits a much larger problem that seems to be plaguing South African universities.
The Evidence Is Damning
Moosa is the niece of Cape Times journalist, Zubeida Jaffer. She graduated in 2012, completing her residency and internship in Johannesburg, South Africa. Moosa then moved to Durban to finish her internship.
She noticed that the incidents started to happen around her first week at a Johannesburg hospital. Initially, she tried to resolve the situation by herself by speaking to the perpetrator. Eventually, she filed an official written complaint. She was told that written complaints mean that an accident didn’t really happen.
In her complaints, Moosa mentions that an associate thought that her body was a distraction, with him inappropriately touching her chest. The perpetrator even went as far as to suggest that Muslim doctors were too inept to become doctors and should instead become terrorists.
Moosa also recorded an incident where a senior doctor told an intern that they were “being stupid like a black person.” She complained about these incidents, but no disciplinary action was taken. When she approached human resources, she was met with aggressive contempt, with a human resources associate accusing Moosa of a forging her own registration forms.
Noticing how dismissive various levels of authority were towards her, she decided to take matters into her own hands and showcased her evidence in a YouTube video.
Unfortunately, Moosa decided to not practice, even though she qualified to be a doctor.
