OBITUARY

The page number in the footer is not for bibliographic referencingwww.tandfonline.com/ojfp 61

Prof George Samuel Fehrsen
26 August 1938 – 22 May 2018 (almost 80 years)

“The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained 
by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were 
toiling upward in the night.” (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

Prof Sam Fehrsen was the eldest of five brothers and one 
sister and had a happy childhood on a small farm outside 
Durbanville. He had to travel many kilometres every day to 
get to good schools for his primary and secondary education. 
He completed his MBChB at the University of Cape Town and 
qualified as a family physician MFGP(SA) with the Colleges of 
Medicine of South Africa. He worked as a general practitioner 
for many years in private practice and later in rural district 
hospitals in the former Transkei, including Mount Ayliff 
Hospital, Eastern Cape, South Africa. 

He was the first head of department: Family Medicine at the 
former Medical University of Southern Africa – MEDUNSA 
(now Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University) from 
1977–1996, spanning a period of 20 years. During his 
tenure at MEDUNSA, Prof Sam Fehrsen established a family 
medicine department that trained and produced many 
family physicians in South Africa, southern Africa and 
central Africa. In 1995, through his visionary leadership, in 
collaboration with the Evangelical Church of the Congo (ECC), 
the very first and only Family Medicine postgraduate training 
programme in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was 
established. Some of our collaborators from the DRC include 
Prof Leon Kintaudi and Dr Philippe Lukanu – both based 
at the Protestante University of the Congo (UPC). The DRC 
programme has matured to the extent that the department 
continues to support the local training of family medicine 
registrars through the establishment of a Memorandum of 
Understanding with the Protestante University of the Congo 
(UPC) in 2011.

In addition, he played a pivotal role in the establishment 
of the first Family Medicine programme in Kenya at the 
Moi University, Eldoret. Most of the first cohort of family 
physicians who graduated from that university are now heads 
of departments (Family Medicine) in at least three universities 
in Kenya. In southern Africa, close to 200 family physicians 
from Swaziland, Namibia, Lesotho, Zambia and Botswana 
trained under his leadership through the vocational Family 
Medicine postgraduate programme at MEDUNSA. A number 
of the family physicians have further emigrated to Canada, 
Australia and New Zealand. The current head of department: 
Family Medicine at the University of Namibia (Dr Felicia 
Christians) is an alumnus of MEDUNSA.

In South Africa, the Family Medicine programme that the late 
Prof Sam Fehrsen ran for 20 years produced many prominent 
family physicians for South Africa. The current heads of 
department: Family Medicine at WSU, UKZN, UL, Wits and my 
humble self (HoD: SMU) are all his mentees and products. He 
was awarded an honorary degree – Doctor of Medicine (MD) 
by Walter Sisulu University (WSU) in 2009, for his tremendous 
contributions to rural health services and training in the 
former Transkei. What an achievement for someone who 
was always soft spoken, affirmative, disciplinarian and a 
missionary at heart. His command of the isiXhosa language 
amazed us all the time from his earlier medical professional 
life at Mt Ayliff Hospital, Eastern Cape. He was a pioneer of 
the South African Academy of Family Practitioners that 
later transformed to the South African Academy of Family 
Physicians, a past president of the Academy, past editor of 
the SA Family Practice as well as a role model, mentor and 
friend to many. 

The late Prof Sam Fehrsen has left footprints on the sands of 
time that we will never forget. In his quiet way, he succeeded 
in establishing and spreading the specialty of Family 
Medicine in South Africa, southern Africa and Africa. May his 
gentle soul rest in peace!

Prof Gboyega Ogunbanjo
Head of Department
Department of Family Medicine and Primary Health Care
Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University