It was a full-circle moment for South Africa's youngest female doctor, Thakgalo Thibela, when she bumped into the obstetrician who helped deliver her 23 years ago – at the same hospital in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, where she was doing her community service.
Thibela had returned to her hometown to give back to the community that raised her and to be closer to her family.
The young woman had made headlines in 2021 when she became the country’s youngest female doctor after matriculating at 15 in 2015 with seven distinctions, reports TimesLIVE. At 21, she obtained a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) from the University of the Witwatersrand.
She did a two-year internship at Helen Joseph Hospital in Johannesburg before returning to Mpumalanga to do her community service at Mapulaneng Hospital, where she had a “reunion” with the obstetrician who had helped deliver her so many years before.
Thibela said she didn’t know he was at the same hospital until she heard colleagues mention his name.
She plucked up the courage to ask him about the experience, and while he didn’t initially recall it, when he saw her mother the memories came flooding back.
“He was so proud. He goes around telling everyone I’m his daughter,” she said.
On the eye-opening experience of working in her hometown, she said 2023 had been an enjoyable year.
“It has had its frustrations, specially because of the poor resources. It definitely makes you aware of the disparity between the village and city. In Johannesburg, I was at a tertiary hospital with functional equipment, and it was easier to treat patients because all the departments were there.
“But in Mpumalanga, there is functional (equipment) yet no doctor to interpret results, which makes it a bit of a challenge. Also, if there are complicated surgeries that need to be performed it means a transfer of the patient to the nearest hospital.”
Despite the challenges, a highlight was the people she met, and the fact that the year helped bring her out of her shell.
“I’ve really come a long way. In comms service, you have to teach and supervise junior colleagues who are interns, and that has forced me to interact more.
“It has also built my self-esteem, so I’m grateful for that.”
She also acknowledged the pressure that came with finishing school early, saying it was even worse in medical school.
“Everyone was expecting me to continue doing what I was doing in high school,” she said, and it was a humbling moment when she failed a test in one of her first-year modules and “felt conflicted” about telling friends and family.
When she eventually did and her mother made light of the situation, it helped ease her anxiety.
After graduation, she said she had learned to “pace myself” and try to recover.
Her plans after community service?
While she had initially been interested in neurosurgery during her second year, she has since fallen in love with paediatrics, which she did in the first year of her internship; orthopaedics, which she did in second year, and anaesthesia, which she “just loves”.
“It has been a rollercoaster. I’m trying to figure out what I want to do …The plan is to specialise, but if I get an opportunity to stay here another year I’m definitely not turning that down because I enjoy being here,” she said.
In the bigger scheme of things, she hopes to return to practise in Johannesburg.
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