Witnessing deaths, accident victims - Popular skit maker Ben South shares why he quit nursing

Popular TikTok comedian Ben South, also known as Dabodabo, has opened up about why he quit the nursing profession shortly after completing his studies.

According to him, he could not balance comedy which he loved with nursing, as the numerous cases of deaths and accidents he encountered while serving at Suntreso Hospital in Kumasi left him feeling deeply sad.

Speaking on The Delay Show, monitored by GhanaWeb, Ben South explained that, after careful consideration, he decided to choose comedy, as it made him happy and brought smiles to many.

"I couldn't blend the comedy job with nursing, so I had to choose one, and I chose comedy. As a content creator, your mind must always be ready for content. While I was at the hospital as a national service personnel, I started in the Emergency Ward. There were lots of deaths and accident cases, and whenever I got home, I’d feel sad thinking about the deaths and accidents that had happened at the hospital.

"I remember a pastor I was taking care of died in my arms. He was brought in during the evening, and by the next morning, he had passed away. I was the first person his wife met, and she asked me how he was doing, and I couldn’t bring myself to tell her what had happened. I was very sad after that incident and kept thinking about it at home. Incidents like that are why I decided to leave nursing. Maybe I'll return to it someday."

Asked by the host if he hadn't anticipated this when he chose to train as a nurse, he responded:

"I trained as a psychiatric nurse, working with people who have mental health issues, which can be a humorous experience. There’s a mental health condition called pseudobulbar affect (PBA). With this condition, a patient can laugh uncontrollably for about 30 minutes even when nothing funny is happening. Imagine being in a hospital with someone laughing for that long—you might end up laughing with them! So psychiatric nursing can be fun. You can even get content from psychiatric patients, which is why I preferred it to general nursing.

"But with National Service, I had to rotate through all the wards, including pediatrics, emergency, male, and female wards. Since I couldn’t handle it anymore, I decided to leave nursing. I only did three months of my national service before I stopped working," Ben South explained.

KA



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