Professor Mervyn Mer: making the impossible possible

No matter the odds, Professor Mervyn Mer believes that what sometimes seems impossible might not necessarily be so.

“The expression ‘nothing is impossible’ is often bandied about, but I like to turn it around so it reads: impossible is nothing.”

Mer shared this and other insights at the Absa Jewish Achiever Awards this past Sunday after being awarded the Absa Professional Excellence in the Time of COVID Award at the virtual ceremony.

This principal specialist and head of intensive care at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital was recognised for his herculean efforts in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, with associates and colleagues paying tribute to him for his work on the frontline.

“He is amongst the top representatives of our continent,” said Gauteng Premier David Makhura. “I had the responsibility of putting together the COVID advisory committee, and I had the honour of appointing Mervyn to the committee.

“I had no doubt that on that committee we had one of the top minds on our continent.”

Indeed, Mer was a key figure in the drive to better equip the hospital to battle the dreaded virus weeks before it hit the country, drawing up numerous health protocols and doubling the size of the hospital’s intensive-care unit (ICU) in record time.

“Mervyn is a leading light in the field today,” said Mer’s brother, Hilton. “He has really made an impressive and lasting contribution during the COVID period. He understood that there would be a significant need for ventilators and that the country was desperately short of the equipment.

“He did a lot of canvassing in corporate South Africa to lend assistance and support the need to buy these ventilators. He sourced and arranged 300 ventilators for South Africa, a number of which were used in his unit, but many also distributed around the country for the benefit of others.”

Other personalities attested to this fact, among them the minister of co-operative governance and traditional affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma (whose brother Mer tended to in hospital), as well as Carol Furlonger, senior nursing sister and unit manager at the hospital.

“He managed to get that ICU ready in six weeks, which is unheard of within state,” Furlonger said. “He saved one of my own staff, and got her into ICU. If it wasn’t for him, she would be dead. Mervyn does this for every patient. Every single patient.”

Head of clinical haematology at the hospital, Professor Barry Jacobson, agreed that Mer had undoubtably been a stalwart in managing COVID-19.

“He put the ICU on the map, got outside funders, and stood at the forefront of managing patients,” Jacobson said. “He’s there in times of crisis and other times as well.”

“I’m a bit sad that the award is only for excellence in terms of COVID. It should be excellence in terms of excellence.”

In accepting the award, Mer said that the honour was really about a collective and cohesive effort on the part of all healthcare workers who had been champions of care during the pandemic. He paid tribute to all doctors, nurses, healthcare professionals, laboratory staff, administrative staff, security personnel, porters, catering staff, and others.

“All the nominees, too, are outstanding contributors and heroes, and this award is accepted on behalf of all of them and all those who have been involved in this pandemic.”

In addition to his family, Mer thanked those who had supported his medical initiatives, pointing out that there had been many valuable lessons learned over the past few months.

“Communication is pivotal in all walks of life,” he said. “Preparation is paramount – it helped us cope with this pandemic.

“I’ve always been an advocate of keeping things simple. If you do the simple things well, you’re likely to have a successful outcome most of the time. If we knew everything, it would be easy, and I guess that’s why it’s called life experience.

“We keep learning all the time, and it’s no different with COVID.”

Mer stressed that all we do should be done in the most human way, in the spirit of ubuntu, “a wonderful South African philosophy which means to be compassionate and humane. This is a philosophy well known in our community,” he said. “You need to be a mensch.”

“Working in critical care, I always like to say: it’s critical to care.”