MSF Southern Africa Former President Inspire UKZN

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The South African Medical Students Association (SAMSA) together with Golden Key International Honour Society recently hosted the renowned international guest speaker and innovator Dr Mohammed Dalwai.

The highly accomplished Dalwai who is also the Chief Operating Officer of the Essential Medicine Guidance addressed students, doctors and healthcare workers about his remarkable life journey at the event held recently at the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine.

His address was titled: From war zones to health technology – a typical journey of a South African doctor.

Having served in high conflict zones such as Syria, North Pakistan, Libya, and Afghanistan, Dalwai explored various challenges involved in treatment and the associated dangers. 

Dalwai is a former president of MSF (Doctors Without Borders) Southern Africa.

He joined MSF for both humanitarian and personal reasons; he is highly passionate about rural health and he yearned to travel and work in war zones.

Perceiving the lack of access to guidelines, he became innovative and co-founded EMGuidance –where he strives for technological solutions to healthcare problems.  One of his previous accomplishments has been the Electronic EDL application which assists healthcare practitioners with treatment and management advice.

His organisation champions healthcare by providing access to many treatment guidelines through a mobile application which is free to download. Whilst it runs on Android and Apple, a web based system is currently in development. Future direction includes potentially incorporating graphic scanning technology and artificial intelligence to identify drug regimens by simply taking a picture of patients’ tablets.

Mr Kumeren Govender, the President of the Golden Key Society at Medical School and a final year Medical student applauded Dr Dalwai for his use of technology to improve healthcare.

Chair of the South African Medical Students Association, Kapil Narain said, ‘Dr Dalwai’s story certainly echoes the essence and genuine impetus for medicine – that is to serve humanity. We are truly honoured to have arranged for Dr Dalwai to come down to Durban!’

This auspicious event was graced by colossuses in academia from UKZN, CAPRISA, AHRI, senior subspecialists from Inkosi Albert Luthuli Tertiary Hospital, doctors, Medical students and representatives of civil society formations.

Dr Steven Knight, Principal Specialist in Public Health at UKZN emphasised advocacy as an important trait of every healthcare worker and said Dalwai as an advocate of health who seeks to change healthcare systems for the better. He thanked the organisers and encouraged more students to organise events of this nature.

Professor Breminand Maharaj, from the Medicine Control Council said Dalwai is an inspiration and role-model to all the young people of the world.

Professor Ted Sommerville, an Anaesthetist remarked: ‘It’s a continual source of amazement and delight that medical practice can take one from the realms of providing basic healthcare in constrained circumstances to the development of high-end apps that enable safer and more reliable care in a broad range of environments.’

Lihle Sosibo and Kapil Narain