Surgicom Private Practice Conference 2024

Saturday, 24 August - SESSION 1 @ 11:40 - 12:40 THE GREAT DEBATE Topic: Anti-Obesity Drugs Will Render Restrictive Bariatric Procedures Obsolete For the Motion Dr Aslam is a Specialist Physician & Endocrinologist who graduated from the University of Natal. He is a Fellow of the College of Physicians of South Africa and the Royal College of Physicians (London) with more than 30 years clinical experience. Dr Aslam lectures nationally and internationally. He is an executive committee member (past and present) of multiple medical societies. His special interests also include clinical practice guidelines, osteoporosis, polycystic ovary syndrome, and the functioning of the healthcare industry in South Africa. Heads the Chatsmed and Durban Central Covid-19 Task Teams. Dr Aslam is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Faculty of Consulting Physicians of South Africa (FCPSA).

Saturday, 24 August - SESSION 1 @ 11:40 - 12:40 THE GREAT DEBATE Topic: Anti-Obesity Drugs Will Render Restrictive Bariatric Procedures Obsolete Against the Motion Dr Abri Bezuidenhout is a general surgeon based in Pretoria. He has a private practice at Zuid Afrikaans Hospital, Life Groenkloof Hospital and Groenkloof Advanced Day Hospital with Sessions at Steve Biko Academic Hospital. He is a member of SASSO, ASSA, FoSAS, SASES, SAGES and the South African Colorectal Society. He is also the past president of SASSiT and the recipient of the ASSA Young Surgeons Award 2013. He is the Founder and Director of Bespoke Surgical Institute. Your long-term health is in the best surgical hands! Bespoke Surgical Institute is the first surgical practice in South Africa to develop a Values and Behaviors ethic that all associates must support, from the receptionist, the clinical support associates and our surgeons. Bespoke Surgical Institute has a passion for professional care, deeply rooted in science and precision surgery. The surgical team is based in Pretoria, South Africa and consists of eminent surgeons within the specialist surgical field.

Saturday, 24 August - SESSION 1 @ 11:10 - 11:40 Topic: Variations in Clinical Practice Dr Vuyo Gqola is a registered Medical Practitioner. After several years in clinical practice, she made the transition into the managed care industry in 2010. In 2015 she was appointed as GEMS Executive: Healthcare Management. In her current role as GEMS Chief Healthcare Officer (CHO), she is responsible for managed care services including clinical risk and medicine management; healthcare networks; provider relations; tariffs and billing; tariff negotiations and healthcare strategic purchasing. In her role as GEMS CHO, Dr Gqola also serves on the Board of Health Quality Assessment (HQA), which is a not-for-profit organisation that conducts annual assessments of quality in healthcare by medical schemes, with the aim of assisting medical schemes to improve the quality of care received by members.

Saturday, 24 August - SESSION 1 @ 10:10 - 10:40 Topic: What Happens When the NHI Bill Becomes Law? What Are the Implications for Private Practice in South Africa BScHons FIA CFP® FASSA Roseanne is Health Policy Actuary with Discovery Health and an adjunct professor in the School of Statistics and Actuarial Science at the University of the Witwatersrand. She is also the immediate past president of the International Actuarial Association. Roseanne has over 28 years of experience in the South African health care and employee benefits field. Her current role involves industry engagement at a high level including with regulators, government, civil associations, industry bodies and supranationals. She has participated in the Nedlac engagements on National Health Insurance (NHI) as well as presenting evidence and analysis to the Health Market Inquiry (HMI) of the Competition Commission. She was been a member of the B4SA funding workstream working on the vaccine roll out programme in 2021/22 and a member of the Covid-19 working group of the Actuarial Society of South Africa. Roseanne served as the President of the Actuarial Society of South Africa for 2016-7 and was previously chair of the healthcare committee and NHI task team. She is a regular presenter at industry events and has published papers on topics including disease management, social security and ethical decision making.

Philip Matley is a specialist Vascular Surgeon and has been in Private Practice in Cape Town since 1990. He is the current Chairman of Surgicom (Pty) Ltd. He is a Past President of the Vascular Surgery Society of Southern Africa (VASSA), a member of the Executive Committee of the Association of Surgeons of South Africa (ASSA) and a past moderator of the examination for the certificate in Vascular Surgery on behalf of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa. In 2020 he was appointed as Chairman of the South African Private Practitioners Forum (SAPPF). Philip grew up in KZN and is a keen golfer, mountain biker, photographer and traveler.

Saturday, 24 August - SESSION 1 @ 10:40 - 11:10 Topic: How Can We Train & Mentor Surgeons in the Private Sector and Can the Donald Gordon Model be Scaled Nationally to Provide a Solution? A graduate of Wits Medical School, and a Fellow of the College of Neurologists of South Africa, Sue spent several years in private practice as a Neurologist, before returning to Academic Medicine at Wits in 2001. In her role as the Academic Medical Director at Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre (SA’s first private academic hospital), she was responsible for implementing the training programme for specialists and sub-specialists. In 2008, she took over the role of CEO of Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre, where she remains responsible for the Academic Programme as well as the operational management of the hospital. Her portfolio of responsibilities now also incorporates the Donald Gordon Medical Institute, which is an independent institute within Wits University, established to expand the training and research model developed at the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre.

Saturday, 24 August - SESSION 2 @ 13:30 - 14:30 KEY-NOTE INTERACTIVE TALK Topic: Thinking Like a Futurist: What the Future Holds and How to Hold On - Futurist and scenario planner, specialising in the future of work - Lead futurist, head of a global research team at TomorrowToday Futures Institute - Five degrees in five different faculties from five different universities - Clients in over 150 countries, has physically worked in 99 countries - Author of six best-selling books - Guest lecturer at 8 leading business schools around the world - One of the 52 featured 'Global Shorts' TEDx speakers for 2021 - Recognised as one of the world's leading futurists and leadership experts - Future of Work Specialist. Speaker, Author, Futurist, Researcher, Advisor

Saturday, 24 August - SESSION 2 @ 15:30 - 16:00 Topic: Alternate Reimbursement in General Surgery - How South Africa is Tracking Compared to Global Trends Darren Sweidan is the Head of the Health Professional unit at Discovery Health. His undergraduate training was in clinical physiotherapy. Following training in business administration Darren joined the Netcare Hospital group in 1999. He spent 3 years in hospital administration and a further 2 years in group hospital finance. He entered the field of healthcare funding when he joined Discovery Health in 2004. Until the end of 2014 Darren was responsible, with the support of the Health Professional strategy team, for engagement with Medical Specialists, General Practitioners, Dental and Dental specialists, as well as Allied and Therapeutic Professionals. Darren currently heads the Health Professional unit where he continues to lead engagement with medical professionals and associated Health Professional risk management activities.

Saturday, 24 August - SESSION 2 @ 15:00 – 15:40 Topic: Now that HPCSA Ethical Rules Have Changed, Will Private Hospitals Be Employing Their Own Surgeons? Dr Quarrie is a Specialist Forensic Pathologist who obtained her undergraduate medical degree from the University y of KZN in 2004 and her specialist qualification and a Master of Medicine degree from the University of Stellenbosch in 2015. She has worked in both the Western Cape and KwaZulu Natal Forensic Pathology Services and has travelled within the continent of Africa and abroad to train and present her research. She has been involved in many high-profile cases in her career such as the Anene Booysen murder and Shayamoya serial killer. She made a career pivot to the Life Healthcare private hospital group as their Clinical Operations Executive. She looks after doctor and related matters at more than 50 facilities across Southern Africa. She currently lives in Westville with her 16-year-old daughter, cat and dog. She loves to travel, read and paint.

Saturday, 24 August - SESSION 3 @ 17:00 – 17:30 MEDICO-LEGAL Topic: Altering Clinical Records – Do’s & Don’ts JP is a passionate about claims and is a legal executive, with B Comm and LL B degrees. Currently, he leads a dynamic legal team at EthiQal, a medical insurance indemnity provider, wearing multiple hats – from offering medicolegal advice and ethical guidance to South African Healthcare practitioners to engaging with panel attorneys in complex claims management. Among his other legal advisory services is policy wording drafting, navigating the financial services regulatory landscape, drafting compliance-focused commercial documentation, and coordinating law reform initiatives. In his previous role at an international law firm, he honed his expertise as a medical defense attorney in insurance, legal liability, and more. JP thrives in professional indemnity, especially in the realm of medical malpractice and healthcare regulation. Beyond insurance, JP has provided commercial legal services to various institutional clients in the financial services sector.

Saturday, 24 August - SESSION 3 @ 16:30 – 17:00 MEDICO-LEGAL Topic: What Surgeons Need to Know Regarding Changes to HPCSA Guidelines on Informed Consent and Potential Liability for Recognised Complications Altus has been involved in general litigation since his admission as an attorney in 1994. He has more than 30 years’ experience in general litigation. He was admitted as an Advocate during 1997 and practiced at the Pretoria Bar before joining MacRobert Incorporated during 1999 and has more than 20 years' experience as a defendant’s attorney in medical litigation. Altus has extensive experience in medico legal litigation, having represented members of the Medical Protection Society in a wide variety of clinical negligence claims. His experience includes dealing with high value catastrophic claims. He is involved with management of the majority of high value claims instituted in the jurisdiction where he practices. He has been involved with settlement of cases with claim amounts varying from small to substantial. Altus has, over the years, been involved with representation of many practitioners at disciplinary inquiries into their conduct at the Health Professions Council of South-Africa. He personally conducts almost all of these hearings and has a sound knowledge of Regulations pertaining to Inquiries. Altus is, almost on a daily basis and exclusively involved with advice to medical practitioners on general aspects of medical litigation, ethical questions and healthcare issues. He lectures to medical practitioners on various legal and healthcare related topics and assists with training of young attorneys at MacRobert.

Sunday, 25 August - SESSION 4 @ 09:15 – 09:30 THE FUTURE OF ROBOTIC PROCEDURES IN GENERAL & COLORECTAL SURGERY IN SOUTH AFRICA Topic: My Journey with Funding Robotic Surgery Dr Lizanné Barry-Heyns is a Qualified Sedationist and member of SOSPOSA. She is married to Dr Michael Heyns, a General Surgeon at Netcare Pretoria East Hospital in Pretoria and assists him with most of his laparoscopic work and also sedates patients in the endoscopic unit. Together, they have two lovely daughters and share a passion for wildlife photography while camping in Africa.

Sunday, 25 August - SESSION 4 @ 09:00 - 09:15 THE FUTURE OF ROBOTIC PROCEDURES IN GENERAL & COLORECTAL SURGERY IN SOUTH AFRICA Topic: How Did the Urologists Secure Funding for Robotic Prostatectomy? Dr Greg is an experienced Consultant with a strong track record of setting up clinical robotic surgery programmes. He is involved in establishing 5 new robotic surgical centres to highly trained teams & have trained and accredited more than 30 console surgeons. Greg has a global network of colleagues in robotic surgery, academia and clinical surgical specialities.

Sunday, 25 August - SESSION 4 @ 08:30 - 08:45 THE FUTURE OF ROBOTIC PROCEDURES IN GENERAL & COLORECTAL SURGERY IN SOUTH AFRICA Topic: Current Use of Robotic Colorectal Surgery in South Africa Ebrahim joined the Matley Partnership as a specialist colorectal surgeon with international training in laparoscopy from both Amsterdam and Notthingham. He is a Capetonian who matriculated from Livingstone High School, and completed his MBChB at UCT in 2002. He completed his internship in Durban, where he met his wife Khatija, and completed his community service in Khayelitsha, including an additional year there with Medicin Sans Frontier, rolling out their antiretroviral program. After two years of surgery in the UK, he completed his specialist training in Cape Town, obtaining his FCS in 2013. During this time, he was awarded the MMed degree from UCT for his dissertation “Systems delays in Breast Cancer”. He gained a broad experience in general surgery before two years of sub-speciality training in the colorectal unit at Groote Schuur. In 2016 he was awarded the Specialist Certificate in Surgical Gastroenterology. In 2017, he was awarded the SASES travelling fellowship to work with internationally renowned colorectal and laparoscopic surgeon, Professor Willem Bemelman, at the Amsterdam Medical Centre. Thereafter he completed his year abroad as a colorectal fellow, in Nottingham, UK. This is a busy unit with 10 colorectal surgeons providing the full range of colorectal specialist services. During this time, he gained invaluable experience in advanced laparoscopy for inflammatory bowel disease and cancer surgery, which are his specific interests, and he is currently accruing UK robotic credentialing. Ebrahim is one of a handful of accredited specialist colorectal surgeons in the Western Cape, adding this expertise to the GIT team at Matley and Partners. He is married to Khatija, a full time Obstetrician & Gynaecologist consultant at Groote Schuur Hospital, and they have two children. He is a golfer, family man and enjoys travelling at home and abroad.

Saturday, 24 August - SESSION 1 @ 11:10 - 11:40 Topic: Variations in Clinical Practice Dr Vuyo Gqola is a registered Medical Practitioner. After several years in clinical practice, she made the transition into the managed care industry in 2010. In 2015 she was appointed as GEMS Executive: Healthcare Management. In her current role as GEMS Chief Healthcare Officer (CHO), she is responsible for managed care services including clinical risk and medicine management; healthcare networks; provider relations; tariffs and billing; tariff negotiations and healthcare strategic purchasing. In her role as GEMS CHO, Dr Gqola also serves on the Board of Health Quality Assessment (HQA), which is a not-for-profit organisation that conducts annual assessments of quality in healthcare by medical schemes, with the aim of assisting medical schemes to improve the quality of care received by members.

Sunday, 25 August - SESSION 4 @ 09:55 - 10:05 THE FUTURE OF ROBOTIC PROCEDURES IN GENERAL & COLORECTAL SURGERY IN SOUTH AFRICA Topic: The Future of Robotics – Funder’s Perspective Dr Noluthando is a medical doctor with more than 20-years of healthcare experience. She is a member of the Discovery Health Executive Committee, the Risk Executive Committee, chair of the Discovery Group Clinical Executive Committee and a media spokesperson for Discovery on all clinical issues. She is passionate about access to affordable high-quality healthcare for all and a firm believer in health as abasic human right. Dr Noluthando led the COVID-19 clinical response for Discovery, which included the formulation of in-and- out of hospital COVID-19 funding policies for the client schemes. She facilitated webinars with experts addressing the up-to-date information for the clinical management of COVID-19. I drove COVID-19 awareness (including vaccination awareness) for Discovery employees, corporate clients, the broader scheme membership, and the South African public.

Sunday, 25 August - SESSION 4 @ 08:00 - 08:30 THE FUTURE OF ROBOTIC PROCEDURES IN GENERAL & COLORECTAL SURGERY IN SOUTH AFRICA Topic: The Future of Robotics Prof Amjad is a consultant surgeon at Poole NHS foundation trust in the UK and Head of the Laparoscopic & Robotic Colorectal Unit at the Champalimaud Foundation in Lisbon, Portugal. He is also a visiting Colorectal Surgeon and Head of Robotic surgery at Hamad General Hospital Doha, Qatar. He holds a personal chair at the University of Portsmouth affiliated with the Faculty of Health Science at Portsmouth, UK. He is also a Director and Founding Member of the European Academy of Robotic Colorectal Surgery (EARCS) since 2014. Prof Amjad has vast experience in laparoscopic and robotic colorectal surgery with particular interest in training in minimally invasive techniques worldwide. He became the leading National trainer in the UK for delivering the largest number of training procedures within the National Training Programme (Lapco). He has performed and supervised more than 2000 laparoscopic colorectal resections & over 1000 robotic colorectal surgeries. His clinical results are quoted as one of the best in the world for both short term hospital outcomes and long-term cancer survival. Prof Amjad has a keen interest in research and teaching with over 130 publications in international peer reviewed journals including book chapters. He is on the Editorial boards of various international peer reviewed journals and has supervised a number of research projects and postgraduate education programmes, leading to awards of MSc, MRes and MD degrees. He has successfully pioneered and established epicenters for minimally invasive surgery including laparoscopic and robotic colorectal surgery at Portsmouth, Poole in UK and at the Champalimaud Foundation in Lisbon, Portugal. Under my leadership, these centres have gained National and International reputation for teaching and training. Prof Amjad’s interest in teaching and training of minimal access surgery, led him to develop and design the robotic rectal training programme for European colorectal surgeons and led the creation of the European Academy of Robotic Colorectal Surgery (EARCS). He has also established international centers of excellence for laparoscopic and robotic colorectal surgery throughout Europe, Russia, East Africa, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and China. In recognition of his work, Prof Amjad was elected as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, Honorary fellow for Association of Laparoscopic surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland (ALSGBI), Fellow of Portuguese Society of Surgery in Portugal and, Honorary chair for Professor of surgery at Belgrade University of Medicine, Belgrade, Serbia. He has also won numerous awards and honors worldwide. Prof Amjad performed over 2500 Laparoscopic and Robotic colorectal resections since becoming Consultant colorectal surgeon in 2006 and he has the largest personal case series (>1000) of Laparoscopic and Robotic TME Surgery for rectal cancer with 5-year local recurrence rate of 1.4%.

Sunday, 25 August - SESSION 4 @ 10:05 - 10:35 Topic: Ergonomics in Surgery Dr Shalin Singh is a Paediatric Surgeon in full time private practice in Cape Town Southern Suburbs and CBD. She did her undergraduate medical degree in Durban and then spent 7 years on the Wits General Surgery and Paediatric Surgery circuits at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital and Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital. She has trained in paediatric general, urological, vascular, trauma, colorectal and thoracic surgery. Her special interest lies in minimally invasive neonatal surgery, ethical practice and creating multi-disciplinary teams in private medicine. She is the founder of Era8, the first management group for Paediatric Surgeons in the country and represents Paediatric Surgeons on the board of Surgicom. After hours, she enjoys spending time with her family and her 2 dogs.

Sunday, 25 August - SESSION 5 @ 12:00 – 13:15 CODING Topic: Best Coding Practice: Maximising Income Whilst Sticking to the Rules Dr Bheki runs the only dedicated Vascular & Endovascular Unit in the province and is providing Acute Care surgery on a rota basis.

Philip Matley is a specialist Vascular Surgeon and has been in Private Practice in Cape Town since 1990. He is the current Chairman of Surgicom (Pty) Ltd. He is a Past President of the Vascular Surgery Society of Southern Africa (VASSA), a member of the Executive Committee of the Association of Surgeons of South Africa (ASSA) and a past moderator of the examination for the certificate in Vascular Surgery on behalf of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa. In 2020 he was appointed as Chairman of the South African Private Practitioners Forum (SAPPF). Philip grew up in KZN and is a keen golfer, mountain biker, photographer and traveler.

Sunday, 25 August - SESSION 5 @ 12:00 – 13:15 CODING Topic: Best Coding Practice: Maximising Income Whilst Sticking to the Rules André David Rene Reddy is a healthcare practitioner specialising as a Surgeon in Chatsworth KwaZulu-Natal South Africa. He qualified as a Surgeon in 1990 and went into Private Practice in 1995. He is the founding member of the current KZN Specialist Network. André is also the Vice-Chairman of Surgicom.

Sunday, 24 August - SESSION 5 @ 11:30 - 12:00 TOPIC: Use of Locums & Assistants in Your Practice André van Niekerk, born and raised in Stellenbosch, is a distinguished alumnus of Stellenbosch University with a B.Comm Law degree. Further enhancing his credentials, he added an Honours in Accounting from UNISA and is a certified chartered accountant. He also proudly holds an Executive MBA from the University of Cambridge. André boasts over two decades of experience in diverse finance roles, having contributed significantly to large multinationals worldwide and made a notable impact in South Africa in recent years. Since joining Xpedient Medical in 2016 as CFO, he has been instrumental in steering the company towards growth and success, showcasing expertise in areas like tax planning, corporate strategy, and governance. Beyond the boardroom, André's passion lies in sports, notably mountain biking, triathlons, cricket, and rugby.

Sunday, 25 August - SESSION 4 @ 09:15 - 09:25 THE FUTURE OF ROBOTIC PROCEDURES IN GENERAL & COLORECTAL SURGERY IN SOUTH AFRICA Topic: Private Hospital Perspective