Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Creating understanding for the complexities of women's health is fostered, as well as the specific challenges in delivering maternal healthcare, newborn healthcare and women's healthcare.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Overview
The Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town boasts a proud history of innovation. Established in 1920, it is the oldest such department in the country and is currently headed by Professor Mushi Matjila.
Undergraduate Training
The Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology trains medical students in obstetrics and gynaecology from the third year to the sixth year of the curriculum. Students are taught in the spiral curriculum and, where appropriate, interdisciplinary tuition is organised (for example, between Obstetrics and Neonatology). Students' training includes equipping students to deal with primary-level problems in obstetrics and gynaecology once they have graduated. In addition, understanding of the complexities of women's health is fostered, as well as the specific challenges in delivering maternal healthcare, newborn healthcare and women's healthcare.
Postgraduate Training
Postgraduate training is also offered and, with the development of the sub-specialities in obstetrics and gynaecology, training in preparation for the examination of the College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology will become available. Candidates may register for other research-based postgraduate degrees including MPhil, MSc, MD or PhD through the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
Divisions
The Reproductive Medicine Unit offers an Infertility Clinic to all couples suffering from infertility (failure to conceive after at least one year of regular unprotected intercourse) and lesbian couples or single women requesting donor insemination may be referred subject to specific criteria.
The Maternal Fetal Medicine division offers several referral clinics, including:
- High-risk obstetric clinic
- Maternity Centre Infectious diseases clinic
- Fetal Medicine clinic
- Pregnancy Support clinic
- Pregnancy Congenital Heart Disease clinic
- Pregnancy Cardiac clinic
The Gynaecology Oncology division provides compassionate care in the treating all women with gynaecology cancer. We promote education, advocacy and engaging with our communities. We provide mandatory good quality surgical training, research and clinical services to women with cancer, and supply research that contributes to relevant care in cancer. We aim to ensure a holistic approach to the journey of comprehensive cancer, which includes screening and treatment as well as the end of life care.
Urogynaecology is a surgical subspecialty and we believe this division is built on the strength of the individual consultant’s surgical volume and experience. One of our main aims therefore is to provide a high quality surgical service. This is only possible with sound assessment and investigation tools and excellence in this will obviously feed into our surgical service.