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EDITOR: BETTIE GILIOMEE
Warm hearts nourish bodies on Mandela Day
SPAR Eastern Cape joined Love Story to celebrate Mandela Day by assisting the less fortunate on July 18. In a first for the company, the City Feed lunch initiative was launched in Fleming Street in the Port Elizabeth city centre when about 200 homeless people were provided with a hot meal. SPAR was introduced to the concept by Elaine Watson of Love Story, an organisation which has set up feeding schemes in the city centre each day of the week. Read more on page 20. PHOTO: SUPPLIED
NMMU APPROVED TO BECOME 10TH SCHOOL IN COUNTRY
Medical School at NMMU N REPORTER
MMU Vice-Chancellor Prof Derrick Swartz has announced that the Government has given formal approval for the establishment of South Africa’s 10th Medical School at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) in Port Elizabeth.
The momentous decision comes after years of campaigning by the University for the creation of a second medical school in the Eastern Cape Province, in addition to
the existing one based at Walter Sisulu University (WSU) in Mthatha. “For the city and region, and indeed the country, it is a truly historic decision, after many years of clamouring by parents, students, doctors and other healthcare professionals in the province. So this is absolutely fantastic news,” says Swartz. The University received the news on July 6, when the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Blade Nzimande, requested NMMU to both proceed with creating a new medical school by 2020 and to expand its existing portfolio of health sciences programmes in ten different health profession-
al categories. This follows years of lobbying. “We assembled an expert group, consulted widely with health care professionals, looked at international best practices, and developed a 10-year Master Plan, entitled ‘Blueprint for a medical degree: transforming health science education to support equity in health’,” says Swartz. The Master Plan proposes “radical intervention to improve access, relevance, quality and transformative graduate attributes with a strong focus on increasing access to rural and poor youth linked to community and local economic development.”
South Africa compares unfavourably with other middle-income countries in terms of medical doctors per 1000 population. In 2008, South Africa had 0.9 medical professionals per 1 000 population compared with Brazil at 1.9, Mexico 1.8, the UK 2.47 and Australia 2.3. The United Kingdom has 120 000 doctors for a population of 60 million; South Africa, with a population over 50 million, only has approximately 27 000 doctors, according to the World Health Organization. Continued on page 2