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NRMSM Hosts Women in Surgery Indaba
2011/03/23 09:39:30 AM
Professor Ntombifikile Mazibuko, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Zululand with UKZN's Head of the Department of Surgery, Professor Thandinkosi Madiba
For the first time more women than men will graduate as doctors from the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine (NRMSM) in Durban. Yet the number of women surgeons remains alarmingly low.
Professor Martin Veller, chairman of the Association of Surgeons in SA (ASSA) and head of the department of surgery at the University of the Witwatersrand said that tertiary institutions needed to train 120 surgeons a year, yet only 30 general surgeons were being produced annually. Of those only a handful were women.
If this trend continued, Veller said that the country could face “a total collapse of surgical services in the public sector” . In South Africa less than seven percent of surgeons are women.
Following a recent symposium on “Women in Surgery” at the Investec conference centre, Umhlanga Ridge, Professor Thandinkosi Madiba, Head of the Department of Surgery at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and head of the Colorectal Unit at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital, said that surgery, even today, was seen as an exclusively male domain.
“We have to look at different and innovative ideas to change the perception that surgery is only for males,” he said. “We have to persuade more women graduates to enter the field of surgery. To do that we have to break with entrenched views.”
Nomande Mbadi, executive Director Corporate Relations at UKZN said currently there was no encouragement to promote surgery amongst women doctors and that even those who wanted to embark on this course were often persuaded against it, or given such a “difficult time” that they abandoned the idea.
“Because of this imbalance there are just so few women surgeons that can act as role models.” Mbadi said that in her view it was an issue that should be seen as a top priority, one that needed to have a strong focus during the early years of medical training.
Many of the speakers at the recent Indaba highlighted the difficulties women faced in the field of surgery. High on the list was the belief, perceived or otherwise, by male peers – and in many case women themselves - that women were not as competent as men and that family commitments and difficult working hours made them less suited to a career in surgery.
Dispelling those beliefs was Pietermaritzburg-based surgeon and UKZN Medical School lecturer in surgery, Ms Shas Čačala. She told an audience of heads of department, lecturers, doctors, surgeons and students that being the busy mother of two school-going children had not impacted on her surgical career.
“It’s about careful planning and having a solid and supportive network,” she said. “If I have to do an emergency operation when my children require attention, I have a list of people who can immediately step in to help. It’s amazing how friends and family in these situations are enormously supportive. Once those things are in place, there are no impediments to your working life as a surgeon.”
Čačala believes that having a “sense of balance” and a “sense of humor” are essential ingredients to coping with a stressful career like surgery.
“When I see a patient before surgery and talk about what is going to happen on the operating table, they sometimes ask me where the surgeon is. Yes there is a huge lack of awareness, but we are trying to change that.”
Dr Sindiswa Ntloko, talking about surgical training for women, said that women surgeons had proved their worth. “You only have to look at how they respond to catastrophes like the recent tsunamis and the Haiti earthquake, often working under extremely difficult and dangerous conditions, to appreciate their skills and commitment.
“We have to break down male prejudice in hospitals where even the change rooms for women surgeons are smaller than those for men and surgical gloves are only sized for male hands.”
Dr Shas Cacala, Ms Liz Clarke and Dr Babongile Zulu at the Indaba
During the symposium several ideas were put forward on how to increase the awareness of women in surgery and to find ways to increase the numbers of women entering this field.
One of the ideas was the formation of an organization in South Africa that would support and highlight the work of women surgeons.
Durban-based surgeon, Babongile Zulu, who chaired the recent indaba on women in surgery, said that it was time to break the “glass ceilings” and learn from history.
“The Greeks revered Hygeia the Goddess of health and well-being and even in the second millennium BC women were known to be skilled surgeons. Unfortunately by the 18th century women had been excluded from the hierarchy of anatomy and surgery with pioneers like James Barry having to take on a male personae in order to carry out surgical procedures. Only on her deathbed was it discovered that she was a woman.”
Zulu believes that a proactive approach is needed to change the current state in South Africa where only 12 out of the 218 surgeons are women.
“I think it will require some active mentoring of registrars, raising awareness in medical schools and in high schools. In the future we might also have to look at more flexible training schedules, allowances and child care facilities, to encourage more women into surgery.”
Professor Madiba, said that this first “serious discourse” into the current shortage of female surgeons in South Africa, had been a valuable opportunity to share ideas and views and plan the way forward.
He said that several ideas would be promoted and put into action during the year. These included an Internet network forum that supported women surgeons and brought them together as a group, similar to web sites in the US.
In a recent British Medical Journal it was said: “It’s time to reject old fashioned practices and attitudes which deny women the opportunity to make their full contribution.”
FACTFILE
Only 7 percent of surgeons in South Africa are women
The Health Systems Trust says that 29.9 per cent of medical practitioner posts in the public service are vacant (this amounts to 4 083 posts) rising to 34.1 per cent (5103 posts)
-Photo courtesy of Ms Faith Manzi
Liz Clarke
