Limpopo Leader - University of Limpopo

Profile: Professor Errol HollandA COMPLEX AND CHALLENGING TASKaAT THE BEST OF TIMES, RUNNING A HEALTHSCIENCES FACULTY IS MORE THAN A FULL-TIMEJOB. Running one with two teaching platforms – inlayman’s parlance, with two full medical schools – isan almost unimaginably complex undertaking.Nevertheless, that’s what Professor Errol Holland hastaken on. On 1 April this year, he started work as theExecutive Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at theUniversity of Limpopo. This means that he’s in chargeof the old Medunsa medical school on the university’sGa-Rankuwa campus and that he’ll be intimatelyinvolved with the establishment of the new medicalschool currently being established in Polokwane.That’s a huge AND. However, Holland very clearlysees what could easily be considered two distinct jobsas a single challenge.‘My top priority will be to integrate the oldMedunsa with the new Polokwane,’ he says. ‘We’reall part of a single institution. We have commongoals. Our joint mission is to serve the vulnerable.I want Medunsa to be proud of being part of thePolokwane initiative. I want Polokwane to work inclose association with the needs and aspirations ofhealth service delivery in Limpopo province.’Brave words, particularly when they are soconsciously uttered against the backdrop of the stopstartmerger, officially established in January 2005,between the old University of the North and Medunsa.Holland (now 61) knows what he’s talking about.Since September 2005, he’s served as the Strategicand Technical Manager in the office of the Chief ofOperations in Gauteng’s Department of Health, andsubsequently the office of Special Advisor to the MECfor Health. During his period with Gauteng, he’s donesome extraordinary things. During a period ofexplosive labour unrest in 2006, he served ascaretaker CEO of the Dr George Mukhari Hospital(to which Medunsa is attached), when he was obligedto pick up a personal bodyguard each morning on hisway to work. Once again stepping into the breech,Holland found himself in charge of Gauteng’s ForensicPathology Service for several months. And he wasclosely involved in the complex process of therelocation of the Pretoria Academic Hospital to theultra-modern Steve Biko Academic Hospital facilities.Holland’s experience in the administration andservice delivery side of health, as well as his extensiveacademic experience, brings a genuine depth ofunderstanding to his new job. He was a prominenthealth activist during South Africa’s struggle years.He helped to write the ANC’s health policy documentthat appeared in the early 1990s. He also has clearideas of where he wishes to take his twin-platformedfaculty.‘Since 1994, a lot has been said about declininghealthcare standards. Some of it is true. But the overallreality is that for the first time in the history of ourcountry every individual is now within walkingdistance of free primary health care. That’s a pricelessachievement. And it’s on that foundation that thefaculty should build its contribution. There’s areawakening of a larger social consciousness, notleast in health care and medical science. TheUniversity of Limpopo is a part of this trend. It’sstated mission and vision fits us perfectly into thisglobal community that sees our common humanity asthe most valuable thing.’Holland was born in Johannesburg – both his parentswere teachers there – and did all his schooling inCoronationville. He then did two years of science atthe University of the Western Cape before moving tothe University of Cape Town to train as a doctor. Hegraduated in 1972, returning to Johannesburg tocomplete his internship period at Coronation andBaragwanath hospitals. It was while working at thelatter that he completed a postgraduate specialistdegree in internal medicine, and then pursued hisinterest in the super-specialised field of ClinicalHaematology. He should have been transferredimmediately into the city’s only haematology unit atthat time, which was housed in the JohannesburgGeneral Hospital in Hillbrow.‘But I wasn’t allowed to work there,’ he said.When asked why, he smiled and pointed at the colourof his skin.Johannesburg’s loss was America’s gain. Hollandand his family moved to Washington DC where hehad been awarded a one-year fellowship at theGeorgetown University Medical Center. He thenmoved to the research institute of the American RedP A G E 2 2