26 Dr Zietsman qualied through the University of Pretoria pregraduate in 1994 as a specialist urologist in 2001. She practised academic medicine until entering private practice in Pretoria, at the Wilgers hospital in 2003. In February 2020, she was enticed into taking up a position to bring into being a Department of Urology at Ngwelezana Provincial Tertiary Hospital in Empangeni on the Kwa Zulu Natal North coast. She grew the department to its current staff capacity of 2 full time specialists – honorary lecturers at UKZN and 4 Medical ofcers. While in private practice Dr Zietsman became deeply interested in interstitial cystitis and the close association between the autoimmune disease spectrum and treated these patients in conjunction with internal medicine, endocrinologists, and rheumatologists. She was one of the inaugural members of the South African Interstitial Cystitis Working groups and a faculty member of GIBS (The Global Interstitial Cystitis Bladder Pain Society). She is passionate about spina bida occulta patients, spinal cord injured patients, reconstructive female incontinence and reconstructive and oncological adult and paediatric urology. This includes surgery for uro-oncology and brachytherapy for prostate cancer and the multidisciplinary care of urooncology. In January 2023, she was asked to step into the post of Acting Academic Head of Urology and in October 2023 she was appointed as the permanent AHOD and HCD for the Discipline of Urology. We asked Dr Zietsman a few questions: What inspired you to specialise in urology? I was the third woman in the country to qualify as a urologist and the Deputy Dean and Head of Urology, Prof Deon du Plessis, provided the chief impetus and encouragement to enter urology. As mentor he was followed by Prof Simon Reif and many other leaders in Urology who I count blessed to have encountered. Each one provided a unique and profound encouragement and through the years I count the inputs of Dr Christie Steinmann most dearly. Urology is such a multifaceted speciality and unique in its individuality yet also its integral role with other specialities. It's an honour to work with such a wide and diverse surgically challenging discipline and a greater honour to teach it and carry across information that can so easily be lost. What are some of the challenges for the public sector urology departments in KZN? As with all the public sector urology teams, our challenges lie in the nancial sphere. Health budgets are under strain. The nances impact stafng, equipment orders, and, quite simply, beds and theatre time. The need for increasing the number of staff after the pandemic losses to death, stress and burnout and emigration cannot be overstated. It has never been more necessary to hold hands with the private sector and forge bonds that will secure the health services that are the very best for our countrymen and our children while still maintaining the very best service possible now. How many urologists are graduating from the University of Kwazulu-Natal's urology program every year? Urology, like other surgical disciplines requires ve years of training. It includes a research module and a dissertation. Intakes per year are not uniform as it is driven by intake needs and funding availability, so outputs range from year to year. It can range anything from 0 to 5 in a year. The University works closely in conjunction with the Department of Health to optimize numbers. Being a head of department extracts a heavy burden on your time, how have you managed to balance, work, family and recreation? My faith gives me the serenity to accept what I cannot change, to change what I can and hopefully the wisdom to know the difference. The people around me are extraordinary and I appreciate sharing this journey with them, every person brings their lessons. You take the good and you leave the detractors. The balance is never perfect. My legacy one day will tell if I succeeded. UROLOGY, URO-ONCOLOGY AND SEXOLOGY UPDATE Congratulations to Dr Cindy Zietsman who was appointed as the Academic Head of The Department of Urology for the University of Kwazulu-Natal and Head of Clinical for the Department of Urology for KZN from 1 October 2023 (acting position since 1 January 2023)
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