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Austerity leads to campaign for Groote Schuur hospital

Cape Town - Dr Ntobeko Ntusi, head and chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Hospital, has launched a fundraising campaign for the University of Cape Town' Department of Medicine.

"I wish to share with you our dreams, which are driven by a motivation and desire to improve the lot of our communities and to improve the caliber of medical practice and training in Africa, he said at a recent fundraising event for the Leading with Excellence campaign.

He said part of the university's mission is to be an "Afropolitan" university, by creating centres of research and teaching excellence that will bring together academics from South Africa, the rest of Africa and the world.

The Faculty of Health Sciences marked its 100th anniversary in 2012 as the oldest medical school in sub-Saharan Africa.

"UCT has produced 5 Nobel Laureates, including Allan MacCleod Cormack who laid the groundwork for the invention of the CT scan in this very same building where my office lies," said Ntusi.

"It was also in this same building that the world’s first heart transplant was performed by Christiaan Neethling Barnard and colleagues."

He said like many Departments of Medicine, his is also challenged to develop and implement practice models that ensure timely and equitable access of patients in our drainage area to specialised care.

Austerity measures

Now, with austerity measures being imposed upon the Department of Medicine both by the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Provincial Government of the Western Cape, Ntusi said he decided to launch a fundraising campaign which will allow the department "to take greater control of its fortunes and strategic initiatives".

"The goals of this campaign will be to establish a significant pool of funding which will allow us to do our work, and this includes establishing new professorships, retention strategies of early career health professionals, updated academic and clinical buildings, and scholarships," he said.

"It is my firm conviction that when courage, genius and generosity hold hands, all things are possible. In good times and in bad times, people give because we meet needs, not because we have needs. It is my hope that our drive to continue the amazing work of leading with excellence will certainly allow us to continue to meet the needs of the most vulnerable members of our society, whom we aim to serve."

The focus of the campaign is on the maintenance of infrastructure where care of patients, conduct of research and teaching of students occur.

In the first year, the focus will be on the refurbishment of the Falconer Lecture Theatre and the Bill Hoffenberg Seminar Room, which are Departmental spaces used for medical education and departmental meetings.

Upgrades

Another focus will be on an upgrade of the teaching venue in the Groote Schuur Hospital outpatient building, where teaching of 4th and 6th year medical students, as part of the AmbuCare programme, occurs.

Thirdly, the campaign will focus on structural upgrades which will include construction of additional consultation rooms in the Liver Clinic, so that it can provide "a dignified level of care" to patients.

Fourthly, the campaign will focus on redesign of the Renal and Dialysis unit, to improve patient flow and care in the context of increasing burden of disease.

* So far, the dinner/auction fundraiser at 15 on Orange on 29 October 2017 made a profit (after expenses) of R375 000. The proceeds of an auction in London of a signed Tottenham Hotspurs shirt will also go to Groote Schuur Hospital. On top of that, there is an ongoing sale of "bricks" for the new liver unit campaign.

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