Rural Allowance: No
Doctors Quarters:
- Average upkeep, unsafe.
- I don’t stay there myself, but I’ve only heard bad things about it. It is old and run down, with lots of cockroaches. It is not on the hospital premises, but at Pretoria West hospital about 10min drive away.
- I don’t stay there myself, but from what I’ve heard it is not the best. Unsafe and not very clean. However, it is very affordable and about 10mins drive from Kalafong.
- Toilets always broken, can’t flush, clogged. And you are very far away from another one. Nowhere to warm food/boil water. You have to go to a ward which is normally locked at night and then they don’t want you to be there anyway.
Academics:
- Good internal, everything else dependent on registrar.
- One of the reasons I came to this hospital. Especially paediatrics and internal medicine have great academics!
- If you are into academics you can join all the department’s academic meetings with the registrars, but it is not always compulsory.
Supervision:
- Again, paediatrics and internal medicine have very good supervision and support. Surgery and obs&gynae have less, but still more than other hospitals.
- In every department there is always a senior to call or to ask.
Clinical Exposure:
- Kalafong is a tertiary hospital in a rural area, so you see something of everything. If you seem keen, the senior doctors will let you do a lot.
Social Scene:
- Crisp coffee shop on the hospital premises is only for students and staff, which makes it a great place to chill for lunch/coffee and meet people from other departments.
- You have your group of friends, but we don’t really do things as an intern group.There is however a very nice coffee shop with great lunches and fantastic coffee for staff and students where you can just get away from the patients and the wards for a few minutes and breath in some fresh air.
Additional Comments:
- Good EU exposure. Orthopedics is not run very well. Paediatrics and internal medicine really good academics as well as anaesthesia.
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