Dr Eric Louw may refer to his 36-year-old practice in Standerton, Mpumalanga as a ‘dinosaur practice’, but for the locals, his solid, quiet presence has been trusted by generations of the same families. Louw represents a rapidly disappearing model of medicine – the full-service GP who does obstetrics, surgery, gastroscopies, ultrasounds and procedures most specialists would hesitate to attempt, all in a small-town setting where the public healthcare system has long since stopped filling the gap. Louw believes it will go extinct when he and his generation are gone. Find out more about the doctor who grew up in a small mining town in the Free State and why he chose to put down his stethoscope in another small town when most of his peers chose to emigrate. MedicalBrief readers get early access to the latest podcast in the Why Did I Become a Doctor series. Click here to listen to Louw and watch this space for more inspiring stories of health professionals.