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For Professor Mergan Naidoo, medicine extends beyond treating individual patients.
It involves understanding the families, communities and health systems surrounding them, and finding ways to improve healthcare delivery. The philosophy shaped his recent inaugural lecture at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) titled: ‘From Service to Scholarship: Transforming Family Medicine through Social Accountability, Clinical Excellence and Educational Innovation’.
Appointed a full Professor in the Discipline of Family Medicine in January 2025, Naidoo reflected during his lecture on more than 36 years in South Africa’s public health sector, detailing how clinical service, research and education could work together to strengthen healthcare, particularly in underserved communities.
A UKZN alumnus, he graduated with an MBChB from the former University of Natal in 1989 with further qualifications including specialist training in Family Medicine, a PhD in Maternal Health and a master’s degree in Health Professions Education from Keele University in the United Kingdom.
Naidoo’s career included clinical leadership at Greytown, Northdale and Wentworth hospitals, where he helped develop services in family medicine, obstetrics and gynaecology, HIV care, emergency medicine and built clinical governance systems.
His experiences in Greytown reinforced his commitment to social accountability, encouraging him to support a community feeding initiative that grew into a sustained programme, illustrating that health outcomes were shaped by conditions beyond hospital walls.
Naidoo’s maternal health research evaluated a modified World Health Organization (WHO) surgical safety checklist across 18 KwaZulu-Natal hospitals. The findings informed national maternity care standards, demonstrating how research could translate into practical improvements in patient safety.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Naidoo led a multidisciplinary response team at Wentworth Hospital, bringing together healthcare workers, management, unions and community partners to strengthen preparedness, improve patient flow and expand respiratory support. A risk management strategy he devised for the acute admission ward and high care unit achieved a sustained impact on the crude inpatient mortality rate at Wentworth Hospital, with the initiative receiving an award for health innovation at the recent South African Medical Association (SAMA) Health Summit. His next project aims to address self-management of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in eThekwini public primary healthcare facilities.
He also advanced medical education through a national collaboration involving all nine South African universities to implement Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) and workplace-based assessment in Family Medicine specialist training. The framework incorporated 22 EPAs and an electronic portfolio to strengthen clinical competence and assessment.
Naidoo, who has held leadership roles in the College of Family Physicians of South Africa, the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa and the South African Medical Association, emphasised that meaningful academic work should improve practice while creating opportunities for others.
“Do not measure your career only by what you achieve. Measure it also by the opportunities you create for others,” he said.
His lecture underscored the value of connecting service, research and education to build a more responsive healthcare system and develop future generations of healthcare professionals.
Words: Lunga Memela
Photograph: Supplied