Drinking and driving, speeding, violence and risky behaviour continue to burden public service trauma and maxillofacial units.

This is according to KwaZulu-Natal’s first woman maxillofacial surgeon, Dr Pranusha Ramlakhan, who works at Durban’s King Edward VIII hospital.

Ramlakhan wishes people did not abuse alcohol and drugs, and desisted from risky behaviour such as drunken driving and speeding, which are among the biggest contributors to road crashes, increasing the workload for doctors such as her. 

Maxillofacial surgery "is a speciality that combines surgical training with dental expertise to correct a wide spectrum of diseases, injuries, tumours, defects and deformities in the mouth, head, neck, face and jaw”.

“We at King Edward VIII Hospital mainly see trauma patients who have sustained injuries from assaults, gunshot wounds and motor vehicle accidents. We also treat patients with adversely impacted teeth, cysts and tumours, as well as severe infections and their side effects.

“As a maxillofacial surgeon you consult with patients, diagnose their conditions, plan surgery and operate. We also render after-hours service for emergencies,” she said.

Ramlakhan has been described as a trailblazer by KwaZulu-Natal-Natal health MEC Nomagugu Simelane.

“We are extremely pleased and proud of what Dr Ramlakhan has achieved. It is women like her who keep breaking down barriers and pushing the envelope to prove to all that women are capable of achieving anything and that no field should be regarded as the sole domain of men. We need more people like her,” she said.

Ramlakhan holds a bachelor’s degree in dentistry from the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and a master’s degree in maxillofacial and oral surgery from Johannesburg's University of the Witwatersrand.

After completing her community service in eThekwini, she began working as a dental surgeon at King Edward VIII Hospital in 2006.

Ramlakhan was appointed as a maxillofacial surgeon in a largely male-dominated field in April.

“My interest in the medical field started early on and during my university years I realised [I had] a special interest in surgery. After matriculating, dentistry was the perfect field for me to get into. During my fourth year of study, I used to shadow maxillofacial registrars to see the work they did. This sparked my interest in maxillofacial and oral surgery.

“After completing my degree in dentistry, I was placed in the eThekwini district to complete my community service. Part of this rotation was at King Edward VIII Hospital, where I gained experience in surgery and my love for it was confirmed.”

She described the journey towards securing a registrar post as long and difficult.

“After completing my maxillofacial part 1 exams with the College of Medicine SA, I struggled to get a registrar post. Many years later, oral health services launched a programme to train registrars from KwaZulu-Natal. I was interviewed for the post and was successful.

“It’s a very demanding field, which means long hours in theatre and being on call at any hour of the day or night. It requires you to be available on weekends and public holidays. As such, it means sometimes having to miss special life events,” she said.

Ramlakhan sees her achievement as one that helped shatter the glass ceiling preventing women from making inroads and thriving in specialised medical fields which are male-dominated.

“Being a woman, it becomes particularly demanding as social norms dictate that women are the primary caregivers, mothers, wives, etc. But we are slowly trying to break these stereotyped roles to show that working women can have demanding careers, such as those in surgery, and also have a family. As we promote this more and more, we hope more women are encouraged to join the fraternity.”

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