Limpopo MEC for health Phophi Ramathuba has vowed to halve surgical backlogs with the recent appointment of more than 20 medical specialists.

Ramathuba said the province has about 2,500 patients who need to undergo medical surgery due to unfilled vacancies. She said there were also 20,000 patients on a waiting list for eye operations.

Speaking in Polokwane yesterday where the department announced the appointment of 28 medical specialists, Ramathuba said they had hired specialists including radiologists, nephrologists, gynaecologists and oncologists between November and December.

"Some of the specialists had already resumed duty; only 11 will be starting this month," she said.

Ramathuba addressed the newly appointed specialists, requesting them to ensure that the skills they possessed were also passed on to younger professionals.

"Whatever you need to save lives in those hospitals you must tell me or the officials you see here because we don't want you to leave. We also want you to transfer those skills to the University of Limpopo's medical school."

Ramathuba told the specialists that the province needed them and they would be provided with all the support they needed.

"I'm the last person to tell you that your demand is impossible, [that] you can pack and leave... "

The university's director of school of medicine Prof Malamulele Risenga said they were relieved by the appointment of the specialists.

He said the appointments would go a long way as the university's partly accredited medical school needs the availability of such specialists.

He said this was one of the key concerns raised by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) when it accredited the university's medical school.

"In March this year, we will be meeting with the HPCSA over some of the partly accredited medical courses but I'm pleased because we now have specialists who will be assisting the university."

The university's vice-chancellor Mahlo Mokgalong said the appointments were the boost its medical school needed.

Last year, public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane found that the university's Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) programme were improperly introduced and implemented an altered curriculum.