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Walter Sisulu University has kicked off its student exchange partnership with the first group of medical students from the University of Graz, Austria.
The two institutions have a cooperation partnership which encompasses elements of personnel mobility, and the exchange programme, through which each university hosts medical students from the partner institution for a period of two months.
Students hosted by WSU are stationed at either Frere Hospital in East London or Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital in Mthatha, where they rotate across various medical departments such as the neonatal section and general paediatrics.
“The programme has mutual benefits for both the students and the hospital. The students get a chance to see what is being done here and learn on the job, while the department also has a chance to learn from the student’s own experiences of how the systems in their country are run,” said Dr James Thomas, Director of Clinical Governance at Frere Hospital.
Though the programme is in its pilot stages, Thomas is hopeful that as time passes a lot more value will be exchanged between the students and mentors.
Despite the foreseeable culture shock of being in South Africa for the first time, Austrian medical student Farah Dzankovic, who is in her second month of the programme said that she had had positive and eye opening experiences at Frere Hospital.
The aspiring medical doctor also asserted that she had learnt a great deal about dealing with HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and a whole spectrum of other diseases which are not very common in Europe.
“I definitely feel more prepared as a doctor in the sense that I feel like I will be able to handle certain situations much better with this experience. Many infectious diseases happen very often here, which are not very common in Europe, so I wasn’t really aware of the guidelines for treatment of some of these diseases,” said Dzankovic.
Several years ago, Frere Hospital received multitudes of international medical students who had come for the same learning experience, but has since seen less.
Head of the Paediatrics Department at the hospital, Dr Kim Harper expressed great excitement in the new exchange programme between WSU and University of Graz as it brings with it exposure to information about an entirely different portfolio of medical conditions and systems.
“You can only learn and gain from exchanging knowledge and ideas with people from different countries. If it’s going to be a continual programme going forward certainly we will know what they want out of the programme and tailor it to fit the specific outcomes they want to achieve from the programme,” said Harper.
Farah and her counterparts have since been joined by a new group of Austrian students who have also commenced their two-month term at Frere hospital.
By: Yanga Ziwele
