The North West University (NWU) has announced that the soon to be established Medical School at the Potchefstroom campus, would be known as the Desmond Tutu School of Medicine.
This was announced during a ceremony in Sandton, which was attended by the Desmond Tutu Foundation Chairperson, Dr Mamphele Ramphele, Deputy Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla, Premier Lazarus Mokgosi and NWU Principal and Vice Chancellor Professor Bismark Tyobeka.
The university said it was a natural decision to name the school after Archbishop Tutu who was born in nearby Klerksdorp and regarded as a symbol of the province.
The Arch was accepted to study medicine at Wits University but however couldn’t continue with his studies due to apartheid and financial difficulties.
According to NWU, the school will collaborate with Wits University, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, University of Pretoria and the National Health Laboratory Service.
Tyobeka said the school will have three pillars, undergraduate and postgraduate training, research and engaged scholarship.
“Through world class education from the MBCHB and MMED Degrees, we would nurture the generation of medical professionals.
Through rigorous research, we would push the boundaries of medical science and discovery.
Through engaged scholarships, we would ensure that our knowledge is not only confined within the academic walls but actively uplifts communities and improves health systems in the province and across South Africa,” said Tyobeka.
In addition, he said that the school would not only serve the university, “but the province and country at large by serving across clinics, Community Health Centres, households and ward-based teams throughout the province.”
Meanwhile, Premier Mokgosi said the school has been a life-long vision of the province, which took years and engagements to reach this point.
“This milestone, which was a culmination of a joint commitment letter, signed by North West Provincial Government and the University in 2023, and supported by Dr Joe Phaahla, will create access opportunities to students from previously disadvantaged communities, as the Arch would have wanted.
He was an aspiring medical doctor, who was denied entry into the medical school by the then apartheid government, due to his poor background.
The Klerksdorp/Tshepong Tertiary Hospital, which has been developed over the past 20 years as an academic training platform, under Wits University would be key, particularly as a clinical training site,” explained Mokgosi.
The enrolment of prospective students for the 11th medical school in the country will be for 2028 with about 50-80 groups of students for a six-year degree.
“Today’s occasion, gives impetus to our continued endeavour of creating a better life for all, by recognizing everyone’s right to access health services, including reproductive health care.
These include a network of hospitals and clinics in the province which would be used for training in primary healthcare.
These pillars are not just concepts, they’re the commitments that would define our impact.
The Foundation’s Chairperson said they’re honoured to have the institution named after the struggle stalwart.
“By lending this man’s name to this medical school, we’re celebrating him.
How fitting, that a man who yearned to become a medical doctor, would end up not as a doctor, but a one whose name will live in every graduate of this great medical school in evolution and whose name would be there for posterity.
Make sure that the school meets the highest standard the Arch would have approved.
The students must be standard bearers of his values of Ubuntu, the school has an obligation to live up to the values of Ubuntu, and to promote those values of every aspect of its work,” remarked Dr Ramphele.
