Dr Martin Bac

I am born in the Netherlands in a rural village and studied medicine at the University of Rotterdam from 1969 to 1975. As preparation to work in a developing country I did one year surgery and six month obstetrics. In 1976 my wife Mies and I decided to go and work in Gelukspan hospital. This was at that time still a mission hospital but by the time we arrived at the hospital it was handed over to the homeland government.

 When I started in the hospital I was the only full time doctor and I was overwhelmed by the amount of work in this hospital with over one thousand beds. I found more than 300 TB patients who stayed for 6 months in the hospital and who were referred from a very large area in the Western Transvaal and Northern Cape. These patients were mostly managed by the nurses with a visit once a month from a TB doctor from Johannesburg. Then there was an institution with disabled people and a general hospital. I had to learn a lot, both from nurses and the few doctors who did sessions in the hospital!

 In the years that I worked there I developed a keen interest in PHC and the most effective way to deliver health services to the community despite apartheid and poverty in the area when it was drought stricken in the 80’s.

 Thereafter I worked at Medunsa in the nutrition unit and department of Family Medicine for 3 years. In 1990 we went back to the Netherlands and we had a family medicine practice in Leerdam until 2010. From 2010 I got a job at the department of Family Medicine at UP and my main task is the training of Clinical Associates and supervision of the district health rotation of the medical students. From 2017 I am involved in palliative care and developing CPD training and teaching material for district hospitals. I have retired from the university in 2022.

I am happily married for 48 years with Mies and all these years we have lived and worked together. We have 4 boys, 3 daughters in law, 4 granddaughters and 1 grandson.