Limpopo Leader - University of Limpopo

Limpopo’s very own medical training platformIT’S COMING AT LAST: A FULL MEDICAL SCHOOL IN POLOKWANEwith the Health Professionals Council, many of whomwere working overseas, and 12 000 of whom were inprivate practice.‘Now compare this with World Health Organisationguidelines that advise a doctor/population ratio of1:500. Even at 50 percent of the WHO ratio, SouthAfrica should have 45 000 doctors. But existingmedical schools are producing only a thousand newdoctors a year. Looked at from this perspective,the whole country is on the brink of a medicalcatastrophe. We in the poorer provinces are runningour health services on foreign nationals. Here inLimpopo, the need is desperate.’Franks said his steering committee was currentlyengaged in the preparation of a business plan forsubmission to the national Department of Educationwhich will be asked to fund the Medical School facilitiesto the tune of up to R1,5-billion over three years.The project is not without its difficulties, however.Nkadimeng talks forcefully about the need for the newmedical school to foster relationships and linkageswith top international medical universities. ‘It’s difficultto attract top academic staff to Polokwane,’ he says;‘and the job of getting people from other countriesin the south is definitely made no easier by theaccreditation rules of the Health Professionals Council.But unless we unlock these particular doors – thosepertaining to international linkages and accreditation– it will be much more difficult to succeed.’Nevertheless, there is genuine enthusiasm for thePolokwane medical school project, and a determinationto face the challenges that the project presents.Franks points out that Polokwane is growing rapidlyand that it will become a big regional centre over time.‘The vision of the university is to be a top-class Africanuniversity solving African problems. My personalvision is that the Polokwane medical teaching platformwill become a regional African resource.’Professor Jabu Mbokazi, 4 the Deputy Dean of HealthSciences who is running the embryonic medical schoolat Polokwane Hospital, told of a recent visit by Britishacademic Dr John Cookson, who had helped tolaunch the Hull/York Medical School in north-eastEngland five years ago. ‘He was favourablyimpressed,’ Mbokazi said. ‘He admitted that theDr Morwanphaga Nkadimengembryonic Polokwane facility was currently operatingwith more specialised staff than had been at it hisdisposal when he began with the Hull/York school.’Professor Philip Venter, 5 the co-ordinator of theFaculty of Health Sciences on the Turfloop campus,makes no bones about his enthusiasm. ‘We have hugepotential here – for teaching and research,’ he says.‘We’re sitting right in the middle of SADC and we’rein the process of getting a state-of-the-art medicalschool and training hospital.’Professor Errol Holland, 6 the newly appointedExecutive Dean of the University’s Faculty of HealthSciences, says he firmly believes that the two medicaltraining platforms in his faculty will become worldleaders in developmental medicine. ‘In addition, we’llbecome the institution of choice for the most talentedteachers and most gifted students, particularly thosewith noble ideals to serve the most vulnerable.’We should allow Nkadimeng the last word.‘In 1956, a small hospital in Stellenbosch, against allthe odds, became a tertiary hospital. But the will tosucceed was there. Today that hospital is Tygerberg,one of South Africa’s largest tertiary teachinginstitutions. The will to succeed – in the provincialadministration and in the university – is now the mostimportant ingredient for us.’4 See the article on page 19 for more from Mbokazi. 5 See the article on page 20 for more from Venter.6 See profile on page 21 for more on Holland.P A G E 1 8