Professor YK Seedat and Dr Clive Daniel with Board Director President at CMSA, Professor M M Sathekge.UKZN Medical Stalwarts Honoured
The Colleges of Medicine of South Africa (CMSA) has named two of its function rooms at its building in Durban after two UKZN academics who are stalwarts in the field of Medicine and have played a major role in the growth of the CMSA in KwaZulu-Natal.
The two are Emeritus Professor YK Seedat, who was Head of Medicine at the former University of Natal Medical School from 1978 to 1994, and Dr Clive Daniel of the Department of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care at UKZN.
The CMSA hall was named after Seedat and the boardroom after Daniel.
The College was established in the 1950s when it was known as the College of Physicians, Surgeons and Gynaecologists of South Africa.
Seedat was appointed on to the CMSA Council in 1978. An Executive on the Council from 1992 until 2002, he initially worked as an examiner in Basic Science before serving as Chairman of the Faculty of Physicians between 1992 and 1995.
Having received a grant, he donated a house in Glastonbury Place in Durban to the CMSA who used it for administration purposes from 1995 to 2016. The building was named after him.
In his speech at the dedication ceremony, Seedat made a plea to the medical profession to safeguard medical institutions through donating to organisational bodies such as the CMSA. He said although the medical profession was well supported by the public, improvements needed to be made concerning its image and reputation.
Daniel, an Anaesthesiologist, holds a MBChB from the University of Cape Town, an MMed (Anes) from the University of Stellenbosch, a Diploma in Anaesthetics from the College of Anaesthetists of South Africa and a Fellowship from the College of Anaesthetists of South Africa.
Previously, he worked as a senior lecturer at UKZN while also serving as Deputy HOD, a member of the Senate of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa and was the secretary of the College of Anaesthetists (CASA).
In his presentation, Daniel spoke about his experiences in navigating the structures of CMSA since 1989 and also remarked on the successful transformation of the building over the years.