Welcome to the South African Nephrology Society
Dear Colleagues
Since the last general meeting in 2020 much has transpired in SA and around the world. COVID19 continued to weave a devastating path in several subsequent waves, especially the deadly delta wave of mid -2021. The world has seen numerous new conflicts and political turmoil, and this has had significant impact globally on economic prosperity. Eskom continues to leave us powerless and metaphorically and has required healthcare services to adapt, at huge costs, in terms of service provision and financial outlay.
Against this backdrop the Society continues to engage with our members, government regulators, funders, and patient groups to play a constructive and positive role, often despite significant obstacles.
Below are some of the activities and achievements over the past two years since the last AGM.
- We managed to host a successful congress in Durban after postponement from the two preceding years. The congress was well attended and well received. We would like to once more congratulate and thank Prof Alain Assounga and Dr Kwazi Ndhlovu who together with the organizing committee and dedicated help from Turners Conferences pulled a veritable rabbit from a hat! We are pleased to report that the congress was also financially profitable and will assist the organization to remain viable. We look forward to welcoming you all again in 2023. The likely venue is Gauteng.
- Our Paediatric colleagues have won the bid to host the IPNA congress in Cape Town in 2023 and we look forward to broad support from the nephrology community for this prestigious international event.
- We have presented to the parliamentary portfolio committee our concerns and constructive suggestions around the implementation of NHI. This was also coupled with an engagement with Dr Crisp, the director responsible for NHI at DoH, at our congress. We have made an impassioned plea for an improvement in several areas including but not limited to better screening and prevention of kidney disease, improved hospital facilities and management, improved training opportunities and more posts for training and broader and improved access to dialysis and transplant services.
- We have pursued the finalisation of dialysis regulations, which have been in limbo for many years and seek to address issues including regulation of dialysis units, basic standards of care and referral pathways. These are hopefully being finalised. We must thank Prof Rafique Moosa in his role as chairperson of the MACOT( Ministerial Advisory Committee on transplant) and Lindsay Jacobs from the DoH who have assisted us with this.
- We have hadseveral online update courses, including one in collaboration with the SA Transplant Society and we are planning to improve the role we play in facilitating mentorship and leadership roles within the society.
- We have engaged with funders including Medscheme, GEMS, Discovery, and others to improve and address issues which affect our members and patients. We are planning to review the coding and billing systems with the permission of our members to address inconsistencies which have led to both abuse by and persecution of members and other providers.
- We initiated and were involved in a court application forcing ’Health -Squared’ medical scene to prolong benefits for their members with kidney failure and transplant as well as other emergency conditions to buy time for them to make alternative arrangements for medical cover. We must thank Advocates Gerald Farber(SC) and Yusuf Saloojee as well as the dedicated team from Webber-Wentzel who all generously provided their services at no cost, to the great benefit of the vulnerable members of the scheme. We are likely to face similar scenarios in the future given the precarious financial situation of many medical schemes. We did engage with the Council for Medical Schemes on this issue and hope this type of emergency can be prevented in future. We have played an ongoing role in advocacy for patient and doctor rights and have produced several statements in this area over the past two years.
- Our guidelines group has been active in preparing published guidelines for the use of the COVID19 vaccine as well as working together with the endocrinologists to provide input on the use of SGLT2 inhibitors for diabetic kidney disease. We are also reviewing and preparing several new documents. This is a busy space, and we must thank Dr Malcolm Davies and his dedicated guidelines committee for continuing this important work. More work is needed, and more is coming, and I am sure Malcolm, and his committee will call on many of our experienced members to contribute.
- We have continued our commitment to the SA Dialysis Registry , ably led by Prof Razeen Davids and his team. We thank the sponsors from the private sector and acknowledge the support of government. We will continue to ask Government for better engagement and funding based on the important and concerning trends reflected in the registry. Government’s commitment to improving services and moving towards a progressive improvement in services remains questionable.
- Our financial position remains healthy, and the organisation has finally achieved registration as an NGO thanks to the team at Turners. This will necessitate some restructuring of our accounts so be on the lookout for a possible change in our banking details.
- Our Twitter feed is updated regularly and also frequently mentioned. We invite our members to follow us on this platform and engage with us. Our handle is @sa_nephro .
- Our members have been actively working with CMSA in the examination processes for the first part and the second part of the nephrology exam for adults and paediatrics.
- We remain a committed partner of the ISN, and your membership continues to include ISN membership. Several of our academic hospitals have been hosting ISN fellowships for decades now. We are also dedicated members of AFRAN and contribute to the maintenance of the African Journal of Nephrology. Prof Alain Assounga remains the editor of this publication which continues to grow from strength to strength.
- We are engaged with the transplant society to co-operate in the areas of guidelines and regulations for kidney transplants. The voices of nephrologists, particularly in the private sector have been under-represented at this level.
The office bearers would like to thank the EXCO and ex-officio members for the work they have put in in the last few years. The organisation can only exist and perform a useful role with an active and committed management.
The future holds many challenges, and the organisation is actively working to help our colleagues deal with them. Uncertainty around NHI, training of specialists, corruption and poor government facilities are some of the many areas we will continue to deal with. Although numbers of nephrologists in South Africa remain small, we have an engaged and activated membership. We look forward to your ongoing support and aspire to be an agent of constructive and positive change in South African society.
Regards
Dr Shoyab Wadee and Prof Nicci Wearne
President and Secretary of South African Nephrology Society (SANS)