Specialised Nurse Takes Pride in Work at Life-Changing Diabetes Centre

Photo Credit: Heroes of Groote Schuur

Sister Buyelwa Majikela-Dlangamandla is a specialist in the field of Diabetes, and she is now working at a state-of-the-art Diabetes centre.

Cape Town, South Africa (26 September 2022) – The Groote Schuur Hospital has a state-of-the-art Diabetes Centre that is changing the lives of Capetonians suffering from diabetes. The centre is giving people access to treatments that previously were only accessible after a long waiting period.

Sister Buyelwa Majikela-Dlangamandla has been working in the field of diabetes for many years and recently took up the position of diabetes coordinator. She has been able to implement her experience. She shared her excitement about the centre with the Heroes of Groote Schuur, and her story is inspiring many.

“I’ve recently come back to Groote Schuur to work here, in Africa’s first dedicated diabetes centre in public health. We are a ‘one-stop shop’ for people with diabetes, saving patients a lot of time and stress.
Diabetes is a huge problem worldwide but is particularly bad here. It’s because of unhealthy eating habits and a lack of physical activity. Poverty is a huge issue – when people are unemployed they will eat anything that they can find, and the cheapest food will be a staple food.

I worked at Groote Schuur from 1985 until 2000 in various clinical areas and as a community liaison sister and diabetes educator. In 2000 I was employed through UCT as a diabetes educator and I worked there until last year. I also did my Masters in Nursing, and worked as a clinical educator, training nurses in diabetes. When this new centre was opened, Prof Joel Dave asked me to apply for a position as diabetes co-ordinator here as he knew my experience and skills, and that one of my qualifications is health services education and I had been working with the nursing school at UCT. I was also a course convener and lecturer for the post-graduate diploma in diabetes, and I’ve done other outreach programmes.

Our department got sponsorship for this centre, and part of that money goes to training. We train people from hospitals across Cape Town and the province. We offer two programmes – a one-day short course for nurses in diabetes, and the advanced 4-day course that involves teaching by a multi-disciplinary team. They attend these courses for free. I’ve written a diabetes toolkit booklet, which they also receive.

Of course, the other important part of what is we do is to attend to our diabetes patients. Every Thursday and Friday is our Diabetes Clinic and on the other days we see people with other endocrine issues. And on Wednesdays we see adolescents with Type 1 diabetes.

Patients love coming to this new clinic. They say it feels peaceful. Obviously, we try our best to match our service to the surroundings. It doesn’t help having a beautiful place if you’re going to get people who don’t respect patients. We get a lot of compliments, not just because of the surroundings but because of the service.

Prof also managed to source podiatrists who come here on a pro-bono basis. It helps so much having them on site. People used to end up with unnecessary amputations as it took so long to see a podiatrist, but now we can see the patients on the spot in the clinic. Diabetes also causes blindness, so we also have a retinal camera here. This will also mean improved care for the patients.” – Sister Buyelwa Majikela-Dlangamandla

The Heroes of Groote Schuur shared that the Diabetes Centre is one of the Groote Schuur Hospital Trust’s focus projects. The centre is fundraising to keep investing in cutting-edge equipment needed to support people with diabetes. The next project is a state-of-the-art podiatry centre.

Donate online here: https://www.gshtrust.co.za/donate or get in touch with Kristy Evans ([email protected]) if you’d like to assist in buying other cutting-edge equipment.