Innovative platform connects surgeons with young doctors struggling to find opportunity to specialise

John Maytham is joined by Dr Le Roux Viljoen, co-founder of TSA.

Newly qualified medical doctors entering the system in South Africa are struggling to find work, and also opportunities allowing to specialise in their chosen field.

An innovative local platform called The Surgical Assistant (TSA) is trying to address this gap by connecting surgeons in private practice with young doctors who can act as assistants in theatre.

Co-founder Le Roux Viljoen tells John Maytham the idea was partly borne out of his own struggle to specialise in his area of interest, orthopaedics.

"It's simple - I want to specialise and unfortunately you can only specialise in the state sector. There are only X amount of posts and a lot of doctors that are coming through medical school at the moment, so supply and demand are the wrong way around."

"It started with the idea for a platform where you've got these new doctors working through the system and connecting them with a surgeon in the private sector - well-established consultants with excellent experience who then train them by exposing them to surgery so they get the experience towards a medical officer or registrar post."

Dr Le Roux Viljoen, Co-founder - The Surgical Assistant

The platform now has more than 1 500 registered assistants and 154 surgeons on its books, and counting.

Maytham asks if there's any resistance from surgeons, who're known to prefer working with an established team.

While some are 'more difficult to convince than others', Viljoen says, it's TSA's mission to help doctors coming up through the system.

"We always say that surgery is like a ballet with all the dancers working together. It's the same synergy you have to have in theatre, so the idea we created was if you have a case where for instance your regular assistant is not available we will get you the right assistant with the right skills and the right approach.  We try and get the right people and upskill them before the case."

"We will try and convince the surgeon that you'll get an assistant that really wants to work in this field that will come at any time... We're trying to convince them to give a hand to our peers, fellow doctors who are sitting at home willing to work but can't get the opportunity."

Dr Le Roux Viljoen, Co-founder - The Surgical Assistant

Scroll up to the audio player to hear more about the platform