Following the final approval and registration by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) in late December 2020 for Mandela University to offer the MBChB (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) qualification, it’s now full steam ahead for South Africa’s 10th medical school.
The Medical School has been given the go-ahead to offer the six-year medical degree after assessment in terms of curriculum, infrastructure, equipment, staff, the necessary student support and agreements with stakeholders.
The first cohort of students starting in March 2021, will be the first to study medicine in a unique, community- focused setting.
Mandela University’s Medical School, which is based at the Missionvale Campus in the heart of the Bay’s townships and close to Dora Nginza and Livingstone hospitals, will serve as a beacon of hope for communities it aims to serve, as well as the Eastern Cape and South Africa at large.
Innovative teaching model
The University will be using an innovative, transformative, distributive teaching model with an emphasis on comprehensive primary health care as well as a focus on leveraging the benefits of technology to deliver effective health professions education. In addition an interprofessional approach that will see students come together to study across health science disciplines towards their service to society, especially within the metro is being developed. The transformative interprofessional education model (IPE) will see doctors work and study alongside nurses, radiographers, psychologists, environmental health practitioners, pharmacists, emergency medical care students and the like, to offer holistic and integrated health care.
The late Executive Dean of the Faculty of Health Science, Professor Lungile Pepeta, introduced the transformative model with great success with both students and the communities benefitting from the ongoing partnerships.
The Faculty’s health care ethos includes an emphasis on preventative and promotive in addition to curative healthcare.
The degree
The qualification offered will be a six-year, MBChB degree (a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) that will produce graduates who fulfil the Health Professional Council of South Africa (HPCSA) graduate attributes and who, on qualification, are competent to work as interns in a South African hospital.
Medical Programme Director Professor Fikile Nomvete will continue the legacy left by Prof Pepeta in leading the Medical School to produce fit-for-purpose graduates who can contribute to the Eastern Cape and South Africa's priority health care needs.
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