Postgraduate

Masters of Medicine (MMed)

The Rules which follow deal with all specializations with the MMed except for Public Health Medicine and Occupational Medicine, which are listed separately below.

CHS-MMed 1 Eligibility

A candidate is eligible to apply for selection to register for the qualification of a Masters in Medicine, provided that the candidate:

• holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery qualification;
• has held such qualification for a period of at least two years prior to registration for the MMed; and
• satisfies the requirements of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) to enter specialist training; and
• satisfies the additional requirements of the specific MMed for which registration is being

CHS-MMed 2 Coursework

• A student has to submit a Professional Portfolio annually. If these documents receive a satisfactory rating, the student may register for the next year. If not, a student is given three months to redo and resubmit the unsatisfactory work, at which stage an academic exclusion may be
• Students deemed by the CHS Board to be unsafe practitioners based on their performance in the clinical service areas, may, after a written warning, be excluded from the
• Unless otherwise indicated, the qualification takes at least eight

CHS-MMed 3 Assessment

• The University may prescribe the CMSA (Colleges of Medicine of South Africa) examinations for one or more of the Part I and Part II Where this is the case, the rules and regulations of the relevant CMSA College that relate to the examinations in question, shall exclusively apply. All students are expected to acquaint themselves with CMSA rules that affect them. These are available from the CMSA Colleges
• Unless otherwise indicated by the CMSA Colleges, candidates may not present themselves for examination in Part II unless they have been registered for, and completed, a minimum of two semesters since passing Part
• Assessment of a module shall include one or more of the following, as determined by the Department or CMSA College concerned: Written examinations, objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs), laboratory practical examinations, a professional portfolio and oral
• The degree may be awarded with distinction where: (i) the candidate has gained a weighted average of 75% or better in the final CMSA examination; and (ii) the dissertation or publication, in the opinion of the School HDRC is of above average
• The research project shall be examined in one of the following formats: (i) as a dissertation; or (ii) as an article published or accepted for publication in a SAPSE- or ISI-approved journal, based on the approved protocol and with the candidate as first author, which criteria shall be sufficient for credit as a pass.

CHS-MMed 4 Curriculum

The curriculum (see Table below) of the qualification shall have 720 credits in total. It shall comprise;

• one module in research methodology (16 credits);
• two major modules of coursework designated Part I and Part II (270 credits each);
• a research project (164 credits);
• service in an HPCSA-approved specialist training post in the appropriate discipline to comply with conditions laid down by the HPCSA. In particular, the minimum periods of incumbency shall be those reflected in the syllabi. Candidates in these training posts shall be required to administer a standard of service which, through an ethos of humanitarianism and excellence, brings credit to the profession and the University;

(e) service in a supernumerary position. In terms of regulations of the HPCSA, foreign qualified doctors may be employed only in unpaid specialist training posts designated as ‘supernumerary’, and given limited registration by that body.

CHS-MMed 5 Exemption

• A student who has passed an examination of the CMSA (in terms of the criteria, rules and regulations of those bodies), or who has passed an equivalent examination accepted by the HPCSA for the purposes of professional registration in the same speciality, may, in terms of Rule GR 8 and CR 3, be exempted from a corresponding examination prescribed by the University and credited with the relevant
• A student who is registered with the HPCSA as a specialist in a particular discipline may be exempted from the full coursework requirement of the qualification; such a candidate may  be  awarded  the qualification  in the  relevant speciality after  a  minimum  of  two semesters’ registration in the CHS and submission of a successful
• Results of CMSA examinations shall be accepted as a Pass or a Fail, as reported by the CMSA.
• Unless otherwise indicated in the handbook entry for the relevant module, exemption of not more than 2 years of in-service clinical tuition may be given in respect of training and experience considered to be equivalent for this

CHS – MMed 6 Format of Dissertation

In addition to format prescribed by Rule CR13, the format of dissertation may also comprise a paper published in a SAPSE journal of which the student is the first author.

CHS – MMed 7 Curriculum table