The portfolio head of Health and Social Development, Cllr Eunice Mgcina has called on the City’s primary healthcare practitioners to use Gogo Ruth Bomvana’s resilience, dedication and commitment to the profession as instruments to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ruth Bomvana, the first black nurse educator at Soweto’s Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital died recently aged 98.
Cllr Mgcina says Bomvana was a dedicated servant not only to the people of Soweto and surrounding areas but the nation and continent as a whole.
“She dedicated 45 years of her life for a functional and responsive primary healthcare system,” says Cllr Mgcina.
Paying homage to Bomvana, the MMC encourages all health officials in the City to take the baton from her. “Gogo Bomvana has left an indelible mark in the service of our country and we are truly grateful for her contribution,” she says.
Born in 1922 at Bensonvale in the Eastern Cape, Gogo Bomvana as she was affectionately known started her training as a nurse at the old Johannesburg General Hospital aged 16.
She trained in midwifery at Bridgeman Memorial in 1947 and worked as a general nurse at the Johannesburg General Hospital from 1948 until she and other nurses were moved to the ‘Non-European’ Baragwanath Hospital – which was a former military facility.
Bomvana became the first black nursing tutor after the establishment of the nursing college at Baragwanath in October 1948. She was also responsible for the training of nurses from all over the country.
“It was at this time that she further trained nurses from other hospitals to sharpen her skills as a nursing educator; a role she held until 1976 when she was appointed as a matron at Baragwanath Hospital,” Cllr Mgcina explains.
As a matron at Baragwanath Hospital, Bomvana was instrumental in setting up Primary Healthcare provision in district clinics, which was under the then Transvaal Provincial Administration.
Following the June 16 Student Uprisings in 1976, Bomvana “worked tirelessly to re-establish services in Soweto clinics together with dedicated nurses and doctors”. Apart from nursing services, Bomvana was also part of a collective that introduced dental services to some clinics in Soweto, with Orlando Clinic being the first one with such facilities.
Cllr Mgcina says Bomvana was not only a dedicated health servant but also a determined community builder. She helped to establish the Jabavu Home for the Aged and the Orlando Children’s Home in 1977. She was also the founding member of the Soweto Retired Professional Society before her retirement in 1983.
“Gogo Bomvana also had the opportunity to share her wealth of knowledge with international health practitioners when she addressed the International Biographical Society Conference in the United Kingdom and the International Biographical Society Conference in New Orleans.”
