Walter Sisulu University is located in Mthatha, Eastern Cape, South Africa and has residents at hospitals in the nearby towns and cities of Queenstown, East London, Grahamstown, and Port Elizabeth. In East London, Cecilia Makiwane Hospital is a regional hospital with all basic departments such as Pediatrics, OB/GYN, Surgery, ENT, Anesthesiology, Family Medicine, Dentistry, and Psychiatry. It is the only point of psychiatric care for the entire population, around 1.7 million people.
Dr. Adila Aboobaker, first-year resident in Psychiatry at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital, contacted Rosh Review to expand the hospital’s access to tools for exam preparation. Since November 2018, the hospital’s Psychiatry department has not had a specialist, but there is one occupational therapist, three social workers, and four clinical psychologists. Due to the university being about 220 km away and no availability of a specialist, the hospital does not have an academic program. Instead, staff rely on information from the Colleges of Medicine South Africa’s (CMSA) website to provide a course outline, and they self-study by attending workshops and conferences throughout the country. Managing patients in resource-limited settings has made the hospital’s staff rely on reading, discussing, and liaising with colleagues in the private sector as well as hospital management and provincial government.
Our collaboration with Cecilia Makiwane Hospital will allow residents like Dr. Aboobaker to improve their studying and exam practice skills and prepare for their final exit exam, after which they may register as specialists and stay in state practice to move into the private sector.