MEDUNSA UPGRADE - University of Limpopo

Medunsa upgrades
ORAL HEALTH CENTRE EXPANDS
FACILITIES – AND SERVICE TO
PATIENTS
IT’S SOMETHING TO SMILE ABOUT. It’s the ongoing
iupgrading of the Medunsa School of Dentistry’s Oral
Health Centre – the dental hospital – located in the
School’s block. Its facilities for its students are steadily
improving, and with them, the services to the community
it reaches; often from as far as Limpopo and North-West
provinces.
Professor Tshepo Gugushe, Director of the School of
Dentistry as well as CEO of the Medunsa Oral Health
Centre (MOHC) says this is all strictly in line with the
School’s pursuit of excellence in the various domains of
scholarship, patient care and community service to
make a significant contribution to the social well-being,
particularly of the poor and disenfranchised. Excellence,
he says, is defined as the continuous improvement of
quality – in all its dimensions.
The dual responsibilities that Gugushe holds work
well together. The hospital falls under the authority of the
Gauteng Department of Health and Social Development.
The school is part of the university – and together they
provide a synergistic offering in terms of the training
and development of students. Beneficial too, he adds, is
that the oral health centre is small and manageable and
is linked to established community-based satellite clinics
which are used as a resource for service learning and
reflective journals by our students.
The hospital may be relatively small, but it commands
a budget of approximately R60-million from the
provincial health department. This includes the wages of
about 80 percent of the academic staff, which are joint
appointments.
The school, which is unique in the country in terms of
the range of courses it offers, trains dental therapists,
oral hygienists, dentists, and dental specialists –
covering all levels of oral health care. It accommodates
a total of about 305 undergraduate students across the
different courses and years. It also has 55 postgraduate
students, including registrars, in the different
programmes.
Professor Tshepo Gugushi
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