Limpopo Leader - University of Limpopo

Limpopo’s very own medical training platformTHE OTHER HALFExamining the process of developing a range of alliedhealth disciplines to enrich the training range of thePolokwane medical school.dDOCTORS AREN’T THE ONLY HEALTHPROFESSIONALS THAT THE COUNTRY NEEDS ALOT OF. Indeed, doctors would be hard-pressed tobe effective without the support of a whole range ofdisciplines that together make up the total healthcarepackage. So it wouldn’t make sense for a medicalfaculty, complete with the necessary sophisticatedtraining hospital, not to pay close attention to these‘non-medical’ or ‘allied health’ disciplines. Thesedisciplines constitute the other half of the medicalschool package planned for the special health campusadjacent to Edupark in Polokwane.The person charged with developing this side ofthings is Professor Philip Venter, currently theco-ordinator of the Faculty of Health Sciences on theTurfloop campus. It would be difficult to find anyonemore motivated, and more in tune with the potential.Speaking about the prospects of a Health SciencesTraining Platform for Limpopo Province in 2005,Venter was quoted as saying that ‘the big opportunityis to develop one of the finest rurally-based trainingplatforms in the whole of the developing world’. 7Now he – and the whole of Limpopo province –have got the chance.To effect the necessary preparatory work, Venterhas already established an Allied Health DevelopmentTeam (AHDT) which has met on several occasions.An important innovation in Venter’s approach is tohave included non-academic clinical practitioners fromthe provincial health services in the team.The reason for this is straightforward. The alliedhealth disciplines already established in the Facultyof Health Sciences are optometry, pharmacy, nursing,nutrition, medical science and public health. These willform a useful base for the non-medical side of the newfaculty. But more departments will need to be added toachieve the vision of a full medical faculty for Limpopo.‘Our approach with regard to those departmentsthat do not currently exist,’ explains Venter, ‘is tobegin to build on the clinical services alreadyoperating in the province. These include radiography,speech therapy and audiology, physiotherapy,dentistry, and so on. So we have asked the staff fromthese services to help the AHDT to establishappropriate curricula for undergraduate degrees.Ultimately, of course, we’ll be talking masters anddoctoral degrees as well.’Venter says that this inclusion of existing clinicalservices staff has generated real enthusiasm for whatis happening in the province. This enthusiasmreinforces the feedback that Venter himself gave to theAHDT from the second faculty restructuring workshopheld earlier this year: that the Edupark health campuswill house a full school of allied health sciences.No fewer than 16 allied health departments areenvisaged. As well as the existing Turfloopdepartments and those to be developed from existingclinical services departments within the provincialhealthcare system, some brand new specialities arebeing considered. An example of this as the mooteddepartment of Kineseology (a branch of sportsmedicine for sports trainers, coaches, and physicaleducation in schools). Training in this last categorywill soon be in high demand because the Departmentof Education has agreed in principle to reintroducephysical education into government schools.‘We have huge potential here – for teaching andresearch in the allied health sciences,’ says Venter.‘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. That’s an appetisingcombination. It certainly augurs well for the future ofthe University of Limpopo.’7 See Limpopo Leader 3 Autumn 2005, page 23.P A G E 2 0