Annual Registrar Symposium Tackles Women and Maternal Health Issues

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The winning presentation at this year’s Discipline of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O&G) Annual Registrar Research Symposium was delivered by a male obstetrician currently working as a senior registrar at Greys Hospital in Pietermaritzburg, Dr Bonile Nonkula.

Understood to be novel research in the local setting comparing two varying doses of oxytocin augmentation in primigravid labouring women, the study was titled: “Birth Outcomes of Primigravid Women Augmented with Oxytocin in Two Regional Hospitals: A Comparison of Gradual vs Accelerated Regimen”.

Nonkula’s Master of Medicine research won him the first prize of a R1 500 voucher.

His work lobbied for future studies to be conducted on a larger population to establish guidelines that balance efficacy in achieving successful vaginal deliveries, minimising adverse outcomes, and optimising patient comfort and safety. Oxytocin is a natural hormone known to stimulate uterine contractions while relieving anxiety, stress and pain during childbirth, and also easing the flow of milk during breastfeeding.

The second prize of R1 000 went to Dr Sinovuyo Madikane, also a senior registrar at Greys Hospital, for presenting her master’s research: “A 12-month Retrospective Review of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Obstetric Care in a Resource Limited Setting”. Madikane said she was passionate not only about women’s health but also about taking healthcare into underprivileged communities.

Winning R500 in third place was Dr Nonelwa Sotsu, a registrar at Victoria Mxenge Hospital, for her study titled: “A Descriptive Observational Study of Pregnancy Outcomes of Failed Pre-Induction Cervical Ripening using Oral Prostaglandin E1 (Misoprostol) in Post Term Pregnancy at Victoria Mxenge Hospital”.

The O&G Discipline Head, Professor Motshedisi Sebitloane, commended all 10 presenters at the symposium for delving into unique and pertinent studies - most of which were recently presented to the South African Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (SASOG congress) - and reiterating the Discipline’s mission to establish cutting-edge excellence in women’s healthcare through innovative education, training, and translatable research.

Sebitloane said the Discipline holds bi-weekly journal club meetings exposing its Master of Medicine candidates to research methods and peer-reviewed journals, equipping them with the necessary skills and confidence to formulate their own studies and be able to present at local and international conferences.

Sebitloane thanked the day’s adjudicators, the Discipline’s research professor and honorary lecturer, Professor Daya Moodley, and the provincial Head of O&G in the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health, Dr Neil Moran, for posing critical questions that made each presenter reflect critically on how they could further improve their studies and sharpen their research skills.

Words and photographs: Lunga Memela