Dr Kekgetheng Alastair Kantani was appointed as the Provincial Programme Manager for Right to Care in the Northern Cape and took office on in March 2008.
Alastair graduated with a medical degree from Medical University of Southern Africa (Medunsa) in 1995 and completed his internship at Universitas hospital complex in Bloemfontein. He also has a post-graduate Diploma in Palliative Medicine from the University of Cape Town.
His initial experience in the public health field was when he volunteered his services as a family practitioner for the community of Munsieville in Krugersdorp in 1996. This was the time when the first PHC graduates where allocated to the Munsieville Clinic, and he assisted with developing their diagnostic skills for a period of two years.
In 1998, Alastair joined the Department of health, Northern Cape, as a Technical Advisor to the TB control programme. He assisted with the provincial implementation of the NTBCP. He was heading the TB technical team and represented the programme at senior management meetings. His fieldwork entailed monitoring and evaluation of the progress of each district and developing a training plan for those that did not yield desired outcomes. He also represented the province at the quarterly TB meeting to report and commit to developments and progress in the TB programme.
During this period, he served in the task team of the Social Services Department that was responsible to plan a medical review process for all the disability grant beneficiaries.
During 2000 and 2002, Alastair had an opportunity of being exposed to various district health systems in three provinces. He freelanced in the Free State, North West and Gauteng Provinces. He found it interesting to learn different implementation models and effective methods of responding to health demands.
After one year of private practice in the Northern Cape 2003, he was appointed as the Clinical Manager of Gordonina hospital, Upington. This position afforded him the opportunity of acquiring skills in managing health services in a hospital setting. The experience also emphasised the importance of an effective district health service delivery system for a successful management and control of services at a hospital level.
Inevitably, Alastair had to support the development and implementation of PHC programs, more importantly with the integration of the CCMT program into both the primary health care and hospital services.
He also participated in the workshop held in Upington in 2005 facilitated by SASSA that looked at inputs for the development of a new application form for disability grants.
As the only clinician trained in HIV management, he then headed the ART clinic for the district, tasked with responsibility of facilitating access to HAART to cover a radius of about 150 km. He introduced an outreach programme that led to the development of a second treatment site for the district. He provided strategic leadership in the successful integration of the CCMT for the entire district.
In transferring back to Kimberley in 2005, he was tasked with establishing and managing the ARV clinic at Galeshewe Day hospital.
From 2007 to 2008, he worked at the South African Social Security Agency as a Senior Manager for Disability Management, guiding the implementation of a new disability assessment model, importantly as regards the criteria for HIV/AIDS.