By Buhle Mbonambi
Circumcision in KwaZulu-Natal has got off to a positive start. Thirty five men were circumcised in the first few weeks of the trial programme.
On Thursday, the men from the Madlebe Tribal Authority, in the Uthungulu District, were circumcised at Ngwelezane Hospital, outside Empangeni. Working together with Inkosi Zungu, the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health say it had a successful trial run at the hospital.
"We had planned to circumcise only 20 people, but with Inkosi Zungu's prompting, we decided to increase the number to 35. He has motivated more men to get the procedure done in line with King Zwelithini's request to local amakhosi, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, the MEC for Health in KZN explained.
Dhlomo said that although the Tara Klamp device developed by Dr T Singh of Malaysia was different from the procedure he had been taught at medical school, he was impressed at the way the circumcision tool worked.
"There was no blood, or a need for bandages," he said. "In fact all of them were comfortable with the procedure and after getting the snip, they got back into their cars and went back home."
Dhlomo believes that it would be possible to do 100 procedures a day by July.
"We have a timeline of circumcising 2.5 million men in the next five years and we know that we can reach that deadline," he said. "In 15 years time, we want all males in the province to have been circumcised and we hope that the HIV/Aids rate will be less in our province, and ultimately, our country."
The department is still busy with the training phase of the project, but they plan to launch the official circumcision programme next month.
"Most of the medical practitioners are being trained as we speak," said Dhlomo.