WSU BURNS SYMPOSIUM PRIORITISES PATIENTS FROM RURAL COMMUNITIES

Early management of burns in rural patients was at the  core of the burns symposium fostered by Walter Sisulu University’s plastic and reconstructive surgeon, Dr Viwe Nogaga.

Established in the year 2022, the symposium aims to equip and impart knowledge on professionals working in peripheral hospitals and rural clinics to avoid late management of burns.

“I started this symposium because most patients in the Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital come from remote areas and finding treatment might take time since there are no trained specialists to manage burns in their peripheral hospitals. The patients must travel to NMAH to get help and that leads to late management of burns,” said Nogaga.

He further said that he noticed that patients with burns are not a priority hence there is no burns unit to treat patients in the entire region and this project is working towards prioritizing them because burns can affect a lot of things.

“The patients are being neglected because there’s minimal knowledge on burns, hence I bring in different specialists on the treatment of burns, so that they can impart knowledge to the different healthcare professionals. This is the first step towards making these patients a priority,” said Nogaga.

Nogaga said the symposium is not only limited to doctors, but nurses and health promoters so that they are able to go to these communities to educate the citizens on how best they can prevent and manage the burns at home.

“I am passionate about helping rural communities using my profession. We cannot run away from the fact that our people in rural communities bonfire, candles and paraffin heaters on a daily basis and those put them at a risk of getting burned. These people travel kilometers to get help and often times they do not have money.  Therefore why not bring the information to them?,” said Nogaga.

Nogaga said that even though the main drive of this project was community engagement, the symposium also highlights research topics that people tend to miss and not think of.

“I was approached by Convatec for a research collaboration on dressings we use on burns. This collaboration will assist the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences to grow its research output and collaborations. This means that even our students will get to be trained in both burns management and research in this project,” added Nogaga.

The symposium which is a product of the joint venture of the NMAH and WSU is not only going to help improve the lives of rural patients, but also produce future ready doctors from WSU students.

By Anita Roji