Museum of Art
Community-Centered Care in Alexandra Township
Michael Goldblatt, Mother breastfeeding in Clinic, 1980s (printed 2026) inkjet print, from digitized silver gelatin print
Linked to the University of the Witwatersrand, the Alexandra Health Centre and University Clinic (AHC) trained medical students in primary healthcare and community medicine. It was founded upon a model of social medicine first introduced in South Africa in the 1940s, which addressed both illnesses and the social conditions that shaped health. Through accessible, community-centered healthcare, the clinic supported underserved communities and united white doctors and black nurses under one system, symbolizing resistance to apartheid. After the end of apartheid in 1994, social medicine declined in South Africa. Reduced donor funding, the growth of private healthcare, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic shifted the movement away from the comprehensive care social medicine provides. Despite its decline, the AHC remains a powerful example of how community-driven healthcare and social medicine can improve public health, even in conditions of injustice.
Caitlin Cowan '26
Scroll down to read testimonies gathered by Caitlin Cowan '26 as part of class work for After Apartheid: History and Identity in Contemporary South Africa, Spring 2026.
Testimonies
These testimonies from doctors and medical students who worked at the clinic focus on the development of community-based medicine in a deeply divided society, led by left-leaning white doctors who aimed to improve healthcare access and challenge social inequality.
Someone was once asked why all the doctors at Alex were white while all the nurses were black. The simple answer is that during this poisonous time of apartheid South Africa there was very little room for black professionals of any kind.
- Dr Tim Wilson, Director of the Alexandra Health Centre and University Clinic, started at Alex Clinic in 1986. Wilson, Tim. n.d. “Alexandra Clinic Comments Tim,.” Assorted Alex Clinic Documents, Michael Goldblatt.
I was really really disillusioned with medicine and not sure what I wanted to do [...]. It [referring to his work at the clinic] turned into one of the most dreadful and really most rewarding times of my life so even though we were all extremely impoverished by Alex Health Centre in material terms, we ended up being rewarded in very many non financial ways.
- Dr. Grant Rex, started at Alex Clinic in 1990.
Oral history workshop on the Alexandra Health Centre and University Clinic (AHC), November 22, 2022, University of Witwatesrand.
Firstly about memories of the clinic, yes it is so long ago but I do remember how as students we trudged through Alexandra Township in our white coats and felt absolutely secure and unafraid from the security aspect - a far cry from life to-day and in other places as well. Also the respect and affection the poor people of the time had for all staff of the clinic.
-Dr. Eric Lebanon, Email message to David Gruebel Lee, March 6, 2006, Assorted Alex Clinic Documents, Michael Goldblatt.
I recall being on the Obstetrics rotation at Alexandra. One night I was dropped off by a van at the home of the woman in labour, and was not to leave until the delivery was successfully completed. I had participated in one such birth - effected on the patient's bed, which was protected by old newspapers.
-Hymie Geffen, Medical Student, no date of work Hymie Geffen, Email message to David Gruebel Lee, February 6, 2006, Assorted Alex Clinic Documents, Michael Goldblatt.
I felt that my job went beyond simply treating their injuries. . . . If someone like me didn't stand up for them, there was no one who was going to.
- Dr. Wendy Orr, started at Alex Clinic in 1984.
Kylie Taggart, “Doctor in Profile: A profile of truth and reconciliation”.
MedicalPost.Com, May 21, 2002.
From my South African experience, this is my plea to you: To honour your own humanity by recognizing and honouring the humanity of others—regardless of colour, creed, gender, nationality. Honour humanity by valuing the richness that difference creates, by seeking to understand rather than to condemn and by being true to yourself.
- Dr. Wendy Orr, started at Alex Clinic in 1984.
Kylie Taggart, “Doctor in Profile: A profile of truth and reconciliation,” MedicalPost.Com, May 21, 2002.
I recall Alexandra Clinic as being a small oasis of hope in an otherwise oppressive and hostile environment. As the only providers of medical care to a population of about 80,000 our workload was heavy and the hours long.
- Neil Schwartz, Medical Student, Email message to David Gruebel Lee, February 13, 2006, Assorted Alex Clinic Documents, Michael Goldblatt.
Other photographs from Michael Goldblatt that demonstrate social medicine practiced at the AHC
Michael Goldblatt, doctor examining baby at Alex Clinic, 1980s-1990s
Michael Goldblatt, doctors and nurses at Alex Clinic, 1980s-1990s
Michael Goldblatt, doctors and nurses at Alex Clinic, 1980s-1990s
Michael Goldblatt, Dr. Helen Rees and students, 1980s-1990s
Michael Goldblatt, testing asthmatic child, 1980s-1990s