Abstract:
Clinical features of certain haematological diseases were already described
1 500 years B.C. but the development of haematology as a discipline
separate from internal medicine took place at the beginning of
this century. The knowledge of haematological disorders developed rapidly
during the 19th century, and the knowledge of pernicious anaemia
is a good example of this growth, which has led to a vast ammount
of research taking place today.
When I joined the South African Institute for Medical Research in 1958
we found a high incidence of megaloblastic anaemia in post-partum
Bantu women and undertook a research programme to discover the
cause. Dr. J. Metz had then just returned from England, where he had
used new laboratory methods in the investigation of megaloblastic
anaemias, and we used these methods to demonstrate a folic acid deficiency
in these patients. This work was taken further to determine the
incidence of folic acid deficiency, and then Dr. N. Colman recently went
a step further to show that mealiemeal fortified with folic acid could
prevent this deficiency - a finding that can be of importance in developing
countries, where this deficiency is widespread.
The development of haematology, together with the research in the
field of haematology, shows how the haematologist works together
with other desciplines and how he is needed as a link between these
disciplines. I shall try to continue to work together with my colleagues
and to develop a department which would provide a wider range of
haematological investigations, an adequate teaching programme for
undergraduate and post-graduate students as well as technicians, and
together we shall attempt to do research work on the haematological
problems which we find here at the H.F. Verwoerd Hospital.