DR. MANKAHLA REFLECTS ON WSU DERMATOLOGY UNIT’S JOURNEY FOLLOWING DERMATOLOGY CONGRESS

WSU’s Dermatology Unit in the Department of Internal Medicine marked a significant achievement by hosting the inaugural Dermatology Congress of South Africa in the Eastern Cape, which took place in Gqeberha.

As it hosted for the first time, the head of the unit, Dr Avumile Mankahla boasted about the unit’s achievements since joining the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences in 2010.

“My initial focus was to establish a suitable environment for specialist training by advocating for dedicated inpatient beds for paediatric and adult dermatology patients, developing a well-equipped outpatient clinic, and securing essential dermatological treatments. These efforts laid the groundwork for transforming the Dermatology unit into a reputable training centre,” said Mankahla.

One of its successes is a subsequent decline in the number of Leprosy cases in the province, which Mankahla said was a result of rigorous training programmes for registrars and collaborations.

He said, “Collaborating with the Leprosy Mission, we launched an educational initiative to enlighten healthcare professionals about leprosy in the Eastern Cape. We conducted comprehensive training workshops in Mthatha, Queenstown, Port Elizabeth, and East London.”

Manklahla added, “Our registrar training programme has yielded outstanding results, with a remarkable 100% pass rate in the national specialist exit exams. Notably, all our candidates achieved success on their first attempt, demonstrating the unit's exceptional training standards and commitment to excellence.”

He highlighted the success of their registrars in research, noting that three projects had received awards from the Dermatology Society of South Africa, with one project notably securing second place for the best original clinical research presentation at the 7th Combined Dermatology Congress in Cape Town.

“We have submitted an application to the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) to expand our registrar posts from four to eight and we have received initial approval in principle, pending official written confirmation,” said Mankahla.

The unit is also in collaboration with the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the Vanderbilt University Medical Centre in the United States of America (USA), on groundbreaking research projects that are set to transform the dermatology space.

These include the Shaving Hair Cuts and Viruses project, a comprehensive study on the causes of atopic dermatitis in urban-rural children, and immune-mediated adverse reactions to drugs in TB and HIV endemic settings.

By Ongezwa Sigodi