The seminar included thought provoking lectures and discussions that focused on specialist medicine and to renew commitment for equitable health care and improved health care for all by esteemed presenters who are leaders in the health field. The keynote presenters included Prof Johan Fagan who gave the overview of the CMSA and that the idea of college of medicine inception started in JHB under Prof Brebner, He also gave update on the Journal of CMSA and that there is currently 24K South Africa users, 3.3k in United States. CMSA vision is to promote the highest degree of skills, efficiency, ethical standards, professional conduct for the benefit of humanity and to promote the honour of the medical and dental profession. Inclusion of the young specialist forum is a great milestone for CMSA as well, in its transformation journey.   

Prof. Eric Decloedt highlighted the potential of new drug development and treatment innovations in advancing specialist medicine. He stressed the importance of optimizing local resources for clinical research, reducing reliance on international support. Gene editing was noted as a promising tool for managing rare genetic diseases. 

Prof. Rubin Pillay discussed how emerging health technologies, including AI and robotic surgery, can expand access to specialist care and improve efficiency. He raised the need for more research on the role of human interaction in care, ensuring that digital health solutions align with the needs and context of South African patients. Prof Mike Sathekge gave insights on CMSA in SA health eco system.  

Ms Nomantu Nkomo – Ralehoko MEC for health WC, gave a keynote address and message to CMSA. She congratulated CMSA for the historic milestone and showed appreciation on the partnership that CMSA has with DOH as they are both strategically aligned.GP is the largest province to train a higher number of specialist, Academic hospitals are the backbone of training of specialist medicine in the province, although the specialist are overstretched there is a need to invest in training and increasing the number of posts for registrars, She encouraged CMSA to expand the training on neonatology and psychiatric specialist as there is a gap that has been identified in those field. 

Panel discussion further explored challenges in specialist medicine that were identified around focused budgeting and loss of specialist after graduation either to private or overseas, mainly because of inadequate salaries and extremely high workload. There was a consensus for a national Indaba dialogue that should be done by DOH, Private sector, govt, universities and CMSA. 

In conclusion, the discussion was robust, and challenges identified mainly around budgeting for NTSG and funding models for specialist training, need to digitalize health, retain specialist and improve the conduct of senior specialist that may not be visible. Appropriate selection of undergraduate for the right speciality and lastly equitable distribution of specialist geographically in provinces