Huge jubilations mark medical results bash

Let's party: Medical students cheer as they celebrate their exam success.

Students danced, cheered and whistled to celebrate the "life-changing" culmination of their university dreams as the Faculty of Health Sciences hosted its annual results bash on 30 November.

Faculty staff, led by dean Professor Marian Jacobs, tossed batches of papers with the names of students who had passed and were eligible to graduate, from the balcony of Barnard Fuller into the quad amid huge jubilation.

Among them were students who are to be awarded gold medals for outstanding performance (an average of 75% or above throughout their studies). They were Nevadna Singh (MBChB), Simone Filies (BSc in Speech-Language Pathology), Jessica Suart (BSc in Occupational Therapy) and Sarah Smythe (BSc in Physiotherapy).

Student Chwayita Luwaca said her long journey had had its ups and downs, and that she had to keep focus and sacrifice a lot of things to complete it. But it was worth it: "This is a great achievement, something I don't have words for to express my feelings."

Fellow student Kagiso Lekang said keeping his goal in mind gave him the drive to continue, and thanked the "fantastic" lecturers for their support.

The newly qualified graduates - doctors, physiotherapists, speech therapists, audiologists and occupational therapists - will now do their internships and/or community service in order to be registered as practitioners in South Africa.

Jacobs said the majority of the students have indicated that they would stay in the country, where their services are desperately needed, while others want to get international experience first. She said the results have shown that the new MBChB curriculum is able to produce students who are innovative, who hold firm opinions and who care for patients.