FROM RAGS TO RICHES”: 1995-2025 ESTABLISHEMENT OF A REGIONAL PEDIATRIC SURGICAL SERVICE IN RURAL SOUTH AFRICA

Milind Chitnis [1], Jessica Davies [2]

[1] Associate Professor and Head of Department of Pediatric Surgery, Frere & Cecilia Makiwane Hospitals,

Walter Sisulu University, East London, Eastern Cape, South Africa

[2] Medical intern, Frere and Cecilia Makiwane Hospitals, International Association of Student Surgical

Societies, East London, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Abstract

The Eastern Cape province in South Africa is the poorest province in the country with one of the poorest healthcare systems. In the 20th century, General Surgeons from the Frere and Cecilia Makiwane Hospitals in East London were required to manage all general pediatric surgical problems. Colin Lazarus, the Head of the Department of General Surgery at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital in the 20th century, undertook two years (1993 and 1994) of Pediatric Surgery sub-specialty training to address the relatively poor quality of pediatric surgical care being offered. It was during this time that he met Milind Chitnis, the current Head of Department for Pediatric Surgery at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital. Lazarus and Chitnis went on to establish the first Pediatric Surgery Service in East London in 1995. Colin Lazarus and Milind Chitnis encountered several problems while

establishing a new service, which necessitated local solutions to address their unique issues. Establishing an internationally recognized regional Pediatric Surgery service in the poorest province in South Africa was made possible by long-term vision, meticulous planning, persistent hard work, team efforts, and finding local solutions to regional problems.