Editorial for the “Pediatric Surgery in Africa” issue of PST Journal

Abstract

The Eastern Cape province in South Africa is the poorest province in thecountry with one of the poorest healthcare systems. In the 20thcentury, General Surgeons from the Frere and Cecilia Makiwane Hospitals in EastLondon were required to manage all general pediatric surgical problems. Colin Lazarus, the Head of the Department of General Surgery at CeciliaMakiwane Hospital in the 20th century, undertook two years (1993 and1994) of Pediatric Surgery sub-specialty training to address the relativelypoor quality of pediatric surgical care being offered. It was during thistime that he met Milind Chitnis, the current Head of Department forPediatric Surgery at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital. Lazarus and Chitnis wenton to establish the first Pediatric Surgery Service in East London in 1995. Colin Lazarus and Milind Chitnis encountered several problems whileestablishing a new service, which necessitated local solutions to addresstheir unique issues. Establishing an internationally recognized regional Pediatric Surgery service in the poorest province in South Africa wasmade possible by long-term vision, meticulous planning, persistent hardwork, team efforts, and finding local solutions to regional problems.