The long road to the top

doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7525.1104

BMJ 2005;331:1104 (12 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7525.1104

News

The long road to the top

Pat Sidley

Johannesburg

A black South African doctor is taking over as president ofthe World Medical Association. Kgosi Letlape spoke to Pat Sidleyabout overcoming the odds to make it to the top

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Ophthalmologist Kgosi Letlape tells a tortuous tale to explainwhy he gained his specialist degree in Edinburgh as opposedto Johannesburg. The new president of the World Medical Associationwas well enough qualified academically to have gained the degreein his home country of South Africa.

But it was well known among black doctors at the time that thewhite medical establishment would often unfairly fail blackcandidates in order to favour white candidates. Despite excellentgrades and the likelihood of passing well if all things hadbeen equal, Letlape decided that getting his fellowship in Edinburghand following it up with the local qualification would makeit much harder for white examiners to fail him. So he took thatslightly longer route to becoming South Africa's first blackophthalmologist. Notwithstanding this, white colleagues on thewards expressed their resentment at his presence, taking thejob of white doctors who . . . [Full text of this article]