The first new Medical Orthotics and Prosthetics Academic Department has been officially launched at the Wentworth Hospital, today, 13 November 2014. This is as a direct result of a ground-breaking partnership between the Durban University of Technology and the KZN Department of Health (where the academic department is based).

Medical Orthotics and Prosthetics refers to the design and manufacturing of artificial limbs (prosthetics) and surgical appliances such as splints, external braces and surgical shoes (orthotics) which support joints or body parts. These appliances, to name a few, support patients who have suffered from strokes, neurological injuries as well as provide post-operative support.
Before DUT started this academic programme, Tshwane University of Technology was the only higher education institution in South Africa offering medical orthotics and prosthetics as a course.

The Medical Orthotics and Prosthetics (MOP) Department at DUT started operating last year (2013). The department’s primary aim is to increase the number of registered medical orthotists and prosthetics as currently there are only about 420 – practicing in our country.

Significantly, the establishment for the first KZN Medical Orthotics and Prosthetics training facility at the Wentworth hospital means that needy patients will no longer have to wait for more than a year to receive prosthetic devices, as has been the case for many years.

The programme, which costs R30 million, will annually see 30 bursary sponsored students – who meet the programme’s selection criteria – being enrolled to study towards a Bachelor of Health Sciences in Medical Orthotics and Prosthetics.

The four-year course will be offered under DUT’s Health Sciences Faculty, with bursaries being offered by the provincial Health Department. The programme based at the newly renovated facility at Wentworth hospital, includes laboratories, teaching facilities and offices. Here, students will be closer to patients and will receive greater clinical training.

Officially opening the Medical Orthotics and Prosthetics (MOP) Department at the launch, KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, said: “Through the partnership we have cemented, we can boldly say that the scarcity of Orthotics and Prosthetics professionals is now a thing of the past. Thanks to this partnership, we have the opportunity to make a fresh start in our endeavour to change people’s lives for the better and meet the demand for these devices.

Again through this partnership, we have established a world class training institution which will not only serve KwaZulu-Natal but the whole country and Africa at large as attested by the total enrolment of 57 students from RSA and three from Angola.”

He also that KZN is now geared to produce its own Medical Orthotics and Prosthetics graduates right here in DUT in a course packaged to meet international standards. “As a Department we are excited and grateful to be associated with DUT that has been for years recognised as one institution that is very strong in producing professionals who are strong in balancing science, art, theory and practice,” said MEC Dhlomo.

Executive Dean from the Faculty of Health Sciences, Lina Puckree, said this journey could not have happened without the support of the Department of Health and DUT. “It was a challenge we had to push and we did not want to compromise and here we are sharing this wonderful event,” she added.
DUT Vice-Chancellor and Principal Prof Ahmed Bawa also reiterated that the students have created history as being the first class of Medical Orthotics and Prosthetics at DUT. “This kind of partnership is of great significance and value to the society that we live in,” he said.

One of the new patients at the Medical Orthotics and Prosthetics training facility, Lyle Smith (27), is ecstatic with his new prosthetics.”I was born with an abnormal club foot, and after surgery I had my leg amputated. The prosthetics that I was wearing at the time had no foot which made it hard for me to walk as it was very heavy. With the new prosthetics I now have, I am much more mobile as it’s much lighter and comfortable,” he said excitedly.

First year Medical Orthotic and Prosthetic Student, Catarina Costa from Angola, said she very happy to be studying at DUT as she gets a more hands on (practical) feel of her course. “Knowing that by the end of my degree, I will be able to make a difference in someone’s life by enabling them to walk by building a suitable prosthetic for them means a lot to me.”

Greg Bass-DUT Health Sciences Faculty Deputy Dean, “We hope to start producing professionals who will address service delivery in KZN. Currently, a patient can wait more than a year to get a prosthetic device or limb. We are very excited to be part of the process that will change that situation for the better.”

Pictured: KZN Health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, DUT vice-chancellor Prof Ahmed Bawa and KZN Health Head of Department Dr Sibongile Zungu celebrate the official opening of the Durban University of Technology’s Department of Medical Orthotics and Prosthetics at Wentworth Hospital (where the academic department is based).

Waheeda Peters and Talent Buthelezi