The most accurate spear at Hlabisa – a Goko doctor.

Abstract

Every public hospital, especially a rural one, needs a skonkwane or anchor person who shoulders responsibility, leads by example, initiates or maintains efficient systems and motivates staff. Yet few have one, let alone one who is black, female and a role model.

So when Dr Mmabatho Kekana, 52 years old, the medical manager at Hlabisa Hospital in the remote Umkhanyakude District in the far northern KwaZulu-Natal coastal region, was nominated by her peers for Rural Doctor of the Year, she was the sure-fire favourite. Confirming her victory, the Rural Doctors Association of Southern Africa (RuDASA) selection committee member, Dr Alma de Vries, said, ‘she showed us what can be done to turn a hospital around. She’s an example of what our health minister, Dr Aaron Motsaoledi, so often speaks of -- good hospital management. Doctors get disgruntled very quickly when management is poor,’ she added.