Medunsa to be split from University of Limpopo

The Medical University of South Africa (Medunsa) is being separated from the University of Limpopo (UL) and will in January next year become a part of the new Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU).

Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande said the transition process required co-operation between the UL and SMU, the details of which were contained in a "protocol of engagement" signed in June this year. The establishment of the SMU as a legal entity in May this year underscores the government's plans to expand its capacity to train enough doctors. A new academic hospital has been earmarked for Limpopo by next year, which would be used as a teaching facility for a new medical school at the University of Limpopo.

The country requires an increasing number of suitably qualified healthcare professionals to meet its pressing healthcare needs, and a dedicated higher education institution has been touted as part of the solution. SA has also been sending students to study medicine in Cuba since 1996. The decision to unbundle Medunsa from the UL was taken at the African National Congress's national executive committee lekgotla in 2011.

Medunsa and the then University of the North in Mankweng, outside Polokwane, merged to form the University of Limpopo after higher education was reconfigured in 2005 by late education minister Kader Asmal. This was despite the campuses being 300km apart. The merger was met with scepticism among various stakeholders, and the government set up a task team in 2010 to review the issue. It included Max Price and Malegapuru Makgoba, vice-chancellors of the Universities of Cape Town and KwaZulu-Natal.

The task team report was received by Nzimande and Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi in 2011. It recommended that the merger of the two institutions be undone and that a new university be established, incorporating Medunsa. According to the report, the Limpopo health department, students, academics and other university employees were opposed to the continued relationship with Medunsa. The report further stated that the only benefit Medunsa got from the merger was the R50m subsidy it received from the UL.

Setumo Stone: Business Day, 14 October 2014