Setting the research and implementation agenda for equitable access to surgical care in South Africa

South Africa is an upper-middle-income country with widespread social and geographical inequality of surgical provision. The National Forum on Surgery and Anaesthesia in South Africa brought together various stakeholders, including government, societies, academic clinicians and the biomedical industry, to define the core strategy for a national surgical plan. During the forum, presentations and breakaway workshops explored and reported the challenges and opportunities these stakeholders may have in sustaining and improving surgical provision in South Africa. We present the recommendations of these reports with a literature review and other recent reports from organisations involved in healthcare systems in South Africa. We acknowledge the importance of access to safe and affordable surgery for all as a core component of healthcare provision for South Africa. The proposed core strategies for a South African National Surgical Plan to achieve these goals are the following. First, research will focus on high-quality interdisciplinary collaborative research and audit, which addresses the Global Surgery indices, adopts internationally consistent data points and focuses particularly on maternal mortality and the ‘Bellwether procedures’. Second, workforce and training must be tailored to the country’s specific surgical needs, based on a primary healthcare and district hospital model, which is supported by government and academic organisations. Third, the surgical infrastructure and service delivery needs to be strengthened by the district hospital. Finally, strong leadership with appropriate financial support by healthcare managers who partner with clinicians both locally and nationally is needed to achieve these objectives.