A Life of Rendering Service

​Nikki Thompson, a long-term rural resident and retired physiotherapist, has shared a heartfelt article on well-known and celebrated Roma local, Dr Alwyn Rapatsa. Dr Rapatsa, a general practitioner from South Africa, has called Roma home for 12 years now and is Practice Principle and partner of Maranoa Medical Centre.

Health Workforce Queensland (HWQ) has a long history with Dr Rapatsa, having provided him support over the years, from recruitment, GP orientation, visa processes and pathway applications right at the beginning, through to scholarships for professional development and upskilling. Dr Rapatsa has also given back by being involved in HWQ's GROW Rural program, passing his knowledge and guidance on to university health care students. We are proud to be a part of Dr Rapatsa’s rural health journey in Queensland and Nikki’s article below provides a wonderful insight into Dr Rapatsa’s journey as a dedicated and passionate health professional.

​A Life of Rendering Service, by Nikki Thompson

Dr Phutiane Alwyn Rapatsa (AKA Dr Alwyn) is well known and deeply respected within our community. I was delighted and honoured when Alwyn agreed to make the time to meet, amidst his busy schedule, for a yarn. 

Born in the Limpopo Province in the northern region of South Africa in 1977, to a family whose roots had been as subsistence farmers, his story is both fascinating and inspiring. Mining was booming in the 60’s and 70’s and his father worked 400 kms away in Johannesburg. It was a time when many were heading towards the cities and leaving the very physically taxing farm work.

The Apartheid system of institutionalised racial segregation was still in place. To Alwyn it was simply part of life at that time, having to use separate entrances and residential areas, with segregated schools and places of learning. In Alwyn’s words, it was a bad and irrational law but there were many good people trying to live as best they could. As you will see from his story, many of his wisest mentors were white women.

Starting school in 1983, he recalls arriving home and saying to his mother and grandmother that he was not going back. Discipline, even for one so young, was corporal punishment and beatings; hardly inducive to learning and not something the young Alwyn wanted to endure. Educational opportunities had been limited for earlier generations, with few able to go beyond Year 10.  His grandfather, of whom he was somewhat fearful, fortunately saw the value of a good education and accompanied him to school the next day with strict instructions he would do so every day until Alwyn could be trusted to stay. It worked! Corporal punishment was finally outlawed in South Africa in 1998.

His secondary Catholic Mission School education was a game changer for Alwyn. It was here he met Sr Catharine Pearson, who was to become a lifelong mentor and friend. The ethos was that punishment should be educational and encourage self-discipline, with lay teachers and nuns who were caring and supportive. Alwyn flourished and his early aspiration was to be a teacher. Sr Catharine and others encouraged their students to look at different possibilities, medicine, law, engineering.

It was medicine that attracted Alwyn, who still has a treasured memento of that decision. Sr Catharine was a skilled calligrapher, and she wrote the Hippocratic Oath for him in calligraphy. What a beautiful gift for a young student contemplating a medical career. 

On completing school, Alwyn was keen to head to Oxford or Cambridge for tertiary education. This time it was wise advice from his local Afrikaner librarian, Mrs Mienie de Villiers to initially study in South Africa, that saw him apply to the University of Cape Town (UTC). With medicine being a competitive course, interested students were advised to apply to all 8 medical schools in South Africa. However, each had an application fee and with Alwyn’s father now unemployed after a mining slump, money was very tight. His grandfather gave him the 60 rand needed to apply to UTC and as they say the rest is history. Mrs De Villiers also assisted by raising funds, from some of the ‘well to do’ white residents of Haenertsberg and Magoebaskloof to assist Alwyn during his first year of studies.

It was by then early days post-apartheid and there was a wonderful spirit of reconciliation in the air. Cape Town was a cosmopolitan city with 80 different nationalities studying at the University. 

It was in his first year of study that Alwyn met another important mentor in his career, Professor Margaret Hoffman. A Jewish woman with passions for Public, Community and Women’s Health, she offered Alwyn paid work as a research assistant. Those additional funds helped augment the scholarships and grants that were vital for his study. Along with two other male professors, the advice he received was the importance of black South Africans having black doctors and that his role was to ‘Go into the Community and render good service.’  Words that exemplify how Alwyn practices in our community.

Graduating in 2002, his career began with two years in the Free State Province in the central region of South Africa before moving to the Eastern Cape Province, a region he chose because of its high needs and low socioeconomic status. It was here that Alwyn met his wife to be, Phelo, whose sister he worked with. During this time, he obtained a scholarship to study a Master of Science In Primary Health Care through the University College London. His local research was around the delivery of BANC, a program of Best Antenatal Care.

Not one to be daunted by hard work and study, Alwyn was also training in Family Medicine (GP equivalent in South Africa). This included further research through the University of Pretoria, using a social science approach to try and understand why patients with TB, did not follow their treatment regime. 

He graduated from both programmes in 2009 and 2010 respectively, and married Phelo. The call to head overseas had never left and he began investigating opportunities with the help of his mentors. An offer from Stellenbosch University by Professor Hoffie Conradie saw him working there for three years at the first Rural Clinical School in South Africa, while investigating overseas options. Phelo and Alwyn’s first son Tabole was born while at Stellenbosch.

Alwyn’s passion for rural medicine was central in his decision making, looking for a developed English-speaking country that could offer qualifications in rural medicine. Despite the arduous and costly entry processes, Australia was the location that ticked all those boxes.

Globally, ACRRM, the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine has the only Fellowship in this area. So, it was, in 2013 that Alwyn and his family came to Australia. Of all the rural workforce agencies, Queensland was far superior to the southern states (Go the Maroons!) 

With five potential options, Roma was a standout for the Rapatsa family. The information he received about the Maranoa Medical Centre, the town and the community, the regular local flights, the mix of agriculture and mining all boded well. The deal was sealed with Maranoa Medical when Alwyn met Rosie Geraghty and her son Liam at 2pm in Brisbane in November 2012, after they had driven down from Roma to personally meet him. A sign of the great relationship to come.

Fast forward to now. The family has grown with the birth of their son Thuduthudu, 10 years ago. Alwyn, who five years ago became a partner in Maranoa Medical Centre, is now Practice Principal, as Dr Rosie’s succession plan unfolds. His passion for rural medicine and our community continues to grow and nourish us all. His plans include further study, with a PhD centred around ‘Care for the Elderly’.

What a gift it was to hear Alwyn’s story; one of hard work and heartfelt values, mentored by wise and caring souls and with a deep and abiding focus on rural and remote health. Welcomed with open arms by Rosie, her team and our community and helping to create a wise succession for ongoing health and wellbeing in the future. 

Wise words for all of us from Professor Peter Folb; ‘Go to community and render good service.’ We can all show gratitude and ‘Pay it Forward’ in this space. Thank you, Alwyn, for your inspiration.

Pictured, clockwise from top left: Dr Rapatsa at his graduation, Maranoa Medical Centre, conducting a skills session for local Roma high school students and HWQ's GROW Rural South West Queensland university health students in October 2023, at the Vital Health Clinic.