Dr Nhlapo returns to Secunda
Dr Nhlapo urges women to get screened when they want to fall pregnant.
Dr Sibusiso Nhlapo, obstetrician and gynaecologist, returned to the Secunda area and to Mediclinic Highveld recently.
He practised in Secunda from 2015 to 2019 and then went to Cape Town for two and a half years, but he did not like the big city life.
“I like small towns where there is a feel of community,” said Dr Nhlapo.
He grew up in Newcastle and completed his high school career in the then Transkei, which is now called Eastern Cape.
After school, Dr Nhlapo studied towards a basic science degree at the University of Zululand in Richards Bay and later decided to study medicine at the former Medunsa University (now called the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University) in Pretoria.
After Dr Nhlapo completed his studies, he worked as an intern in Durban and later in Richards Bay.
He experienced the countryside and a small town, when he worked as a general practitioner for nearly four years in Volksrust in Mpumalanga.
He later worked as a medical officer in a hospital again, before he decided he wanted to specialise as a gynaecologist in 2009.
“I always thought I did not like the field, because it is a very busy field and I always avoided it, but I think if you are destined for something, you will end up there,” said Dr Nhlapo.
He moved to the Cape and specialised at the University of Stellenbosch and worked at Tygerberg Hospital.
He noticed there was a gap in the field in the Secunda area for helping women with high risk pregnancies especially and fertility maternal medicine and decided to settle in Secunda.
“Women with high risk pregnancies had to be sent to Gauteng and then those specialists are often full and they had to wait months for an appointment and it is often too late,” said Dr Nhlapo.
As a gynaecologist he does not have a lot of free time, but if he does, he is more of an indoor man and enjoys a glass of wine while watching Netflix or reading books.
His favourite type of books are motivational books or fiction or autobiographies.
He said it is important to have planned pregnancies that are healthy and prevention is better than cure.
“If women know they will be a high risk pregnant patient, they must see their doctor before falling pregnant so that a doctor can access their risk profile.
“Women should also be screened and go and see a doctor early in their pregnancy.
Dr Nhlapho’s rooms are located at Mediclinic Highveld.
