ICC DURBAN, 29 July 2000
His Majesty King Goodwill Zwelithini
Former President Nelson Mandela
The Premier of KwaZulu Natal
National Ministers present
The Dean of the Medical School
The vice-chancellor of the University of Natal
MECs and Officials
Ladies and Gentlemen
Fifty years ago Dr McCord and his colleague Dr Taylor identified a need to train Africans in Western medicine.
The institution that was born out of that vision has come a long way since then.
The doctors McCord and Taylor and the Nationalist Party, during whose reign the school came into being, could not have known of the impact that it would have on the lives of black people, and the role and contribution it would make in shaping the political agenda of the country.
From inception this medical school was a classing example of the segregation that has existed in our country for decades. The conditions under which those first black medical students, and the others that came after them studied, planted the seeds that were to take further the struggle for liberation in South Africa. The apartheid leaders could not have known of the activism that would be born out of their suffering.
For, their inadequate living conditions alone were a most powerful conscietising factor tat resulted in the emergence of so many eminent leaders in politics, science and academics. Sadly during that period in our history many aspirant doctors had to drop out because of their political activities, a big loss to our country.
I am repeating this history of the University of Natal Medical School because it is an important one to remember, as it should inform the transformation agenda of this institution. We are at a point where we should take stock of our achievements and failures. Indeed we need to ask ourselves if we have achieved the objective of the founders of the school - to train black people in western medicine.
The University of Natal Medical school was, for a long time, the only school that trained black doctors in any significant numbers. As we celebrate its 50th anniversary are we happy that we have done our part in ensuring that the country continues to have a steady supply of black, African doctors that are needed so desperately in our country, particularly in rural areas?
Is the institution making a mark in providing the country with recognised specialists and senior academics in the field of medicine who are African? Are former students playing a leading role in the institution?
Given the historical value of this school to our people, I have chosen to be frank in my brief assessment and to ask questions that are pertinent to the transformation agenda that we have set for ourselves as a nation.
On hearing that I had been invited to address you this evening, a graduate of this institution had this to say to me It is "...sad that, as can be seen in its publication, Med News, Volume I, to celebrate the 50 years, this institution has no African Senior Academicians or Professors except one". He went on to say that the institution "has failed to achieve what MEDUNSA has done in 20 years and the University of Pretoria did for the Afrikaner".
The sentiments that he expressed are echoed by many other doctors that I have interacted with. Another former student says "...it is rather a curious puzzle that the advancement of black academics to professorship at the University of Natal medical school has singularly failed to groom a single African into this prestigious position in 50 years" when "Medunsa does not seem to have difficulty in nurturing Natal graduates to the highest academic levels...."
For these reasons I felt it was important for me to raise these issues, and hopefully, initiate open debate on them so that solutions may be found. As the former student says, if we do not heed these sentiments, and continue as if all is well, is the situation ever going to correct itself?
You will all agree with me that South Africa is faced with a huge problem of doctors who leave our country on completion of their studies. The question we need to ask ourselves again is, "what are we doing to ensure that the recruits we bring into our system are ones that are most likely to stay in the country and serve their people?"
Given the political legacy of this medical school, are we ensuring that, in the new dispensation, we are producing a type of doctor who is the patriotic cadre so desperately needed to play a leading role in the transformation of our country within the medical field?
We have a choice to continue to spend valuable and scarce resources training doctors to benefit foreign nations or to develop strategies to ensure that we train doctors for our own nation. Reports indicate that the number of African students who qualify for entry into medical school is extremely low.
Given the historical differences in our education system, the effects of which are likely to stay with us well into the future, I believe that we have a challenge to go beyond the accepted norm in our recruitment methods. We need to devise vigorous programmes to identify the type of doctors I have referred to, that are likely to stay in our country and serve their people.
I believe that there exist, in our country, thousands of people whose services our country will never be blessed with, because we have not taken the leap beyond convention. Ladies and gentlemen, the transformation agenda of our country will not move forward fast enough if we continue to do things as we have always done them.
We need to do extraordinary things to turn this country around and I challenge this school to once again take the lead in bringing more African doctors into the system. The greater challenge is to ensure that the number of black, African doctors match the demographics of our country and this should be our guiding principle.
I am told that the University of Natal has, in the past, had programmes to identify students with potential who have not necessarily achieved distinctions in their matric exams and that some of these students have gone to excel in their chosen fields. This is the type of initiative that is needed in our country to address the effects of the continuing imbalances in our country. Our government is working towards eradicating the existing imbalances in education, but we all know that this is a complex situation that cannot be rectified overnight. Therefore we need to develop programmes that will bridge the gap in the interim. I believe that in the short term a deliberate partnership between our education institutions, the private sector and government, to nurture in our young people, an interest in the fields of science and maths, is the only viable solution.
In the fact of emigration of our newly qualified doctors and a shortage of doctors in rural areas, we need to deliberately identify and recruit students, who show potential, from targeted areas of our country particularly rural areas.
The needs of our country dictate that we should produce doctors who have a clear understanding of the needs of their communities and of what needs to happen in South Africa is to succeed. In this regard programmes that involve students in community work are to be encouraged.
The challenge, to this institution, is to ensure that history does not judge us harshly for having not done enough to train sufficient African men and women in the field of medicine to satisfy the needs of our country.
In conclusion I would like to congratulate you on your decision to name this school after our former President, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. Today's function is a celebration of achievement against all odds and a fitting tribute to our former President, one of Africa's most outstanding freedom fighters and revolutionaries.
It is significant that this medical school is paying tribute to him, in that way recognising the role that he played in the struggle for the liberation of the oppressed people in this country. There could have been no better way for this medical school to mark its 50th anniversary, given its own political history.
Many young activists were inspired by his work and the unwavering commitment and dedication he showed during his twenty seven years of imprisonment. I believe that the naming of the school after this great leader is an important step towards the transformation of this institution, to ensure that blacks, particularly the Africans play a greater role in its affairs. This is important to remove the possibility of sentiments similar to the one expressed to me by the former student. I am sure that the leaders of this institution have taken note of these sentiments and are aware of the national agenda for transformation, empowerment and deracialisation of our lives in every respect. You will recall the words of the many you are honouring tonight, during one of his many trials on his long walk to freedom. He vowed to fight racist domination whether it was by white or black people. His ideas provided inspiration to some of your past students.
We wish this institution another successful 50 years. We hope that the experiences of the last fifty years will be instructive to the institution and serve as an important basis for its policies in the future.
I thank you