Female doctors plough back

KANYAMAZANE – The provincial branch of the Medical Women Association of South Africa (Mwasa), is contemplating funding female students to pursue medical studies at tertiary level.

This was suggested by well-known Dr Bongi Baloi during the association’s visit to Tiphembeleni Primary School.

“As an association, we will conduct campaigns aimed at encouraging female learners to take their studies seriously and also look at a number of ways to secure bursaries for them to pursue medicine once they have completed their matric.

We will encourage our female doctors in the province to adopt at least one or two female learners and mentor them in the field of medicine.”

Baloi formed part of a high delegate of female doctors affiliated to Mwasa, which visited this primary school, where it handed over sanitary towels donated by Sappi.

“We want to target issues concerning women in all walks of life. We want to deal with issues of domestic violence and rape by offering counselling to affected women.

We also intend on establishing shelters for women, or victims of abuse and domestic violence.”

She said their willingness to play their part in nation building was motivated by many incidents and cases female doctors dealt with.

“We cannot just sit and watch. We want to help them by providing much-needed counselling.

We are also going to focus on campaigns aimed at concertising women to live and lead healthy lifestyles by doing regular check-ups for cancer, high blood pressure and diabetics.

This was our pilot project as Mpumalanga branch, and we hope to continue and move to other areas around the province, but for now, we will be concentrating on giving sanitary towels to schoolgirls,” she said.

“In the past we used to say it takes a village to raise a child but we now say it takes all professions to raise a child.”

Mwasa is a new national professional organisation representing the interests of women doctors, empowering them to empower other women in South Africa.