Noorunisa – Administrative Assistant to the Head of the Paediatric Surgery Department

One of the beautiful threads of the Red Cross Children’s Hospital is Noorunisa. She has been part of the Hospital family for nearly 27 years. The Hospital is as engrained in her life as much as her own two children are, who were raised within the greater Hospital family. Noorunisa has been the administrative assistant in the Paediatric Surgery Department for 17 years. Before that, she spent 10 years as part of the Oncology (G1 Ward) family.

“I still see them as my first family,” she admits, even though she is incredibly happy working where she is now. “G1 was a big part of my life. I had both my kids while working there. So, I loved it. It’s something I’ll never forget. It was the best place to work and to see how these children go through chemo, but they are just so brave and resilient. Their parents as well. To me, it was like becoming part of their family. I still meet some of the patients from the oncology unit.”

After cementing her strongly woven impact on Ward G1, Noorunisa embraced her next role in the Paediatric Surgery Department. She’s the surgical go-to person.

“I work mostly for the head of the department doing all his administration, managing his meetings and diary. But I also work closely with every consultant in the division, as well as the registrars, and the cosmos. I work with the ward administrators, and I also work closely with the Trust and the Paediatric Medicine Department.”

As if that isn’t a big enough job, Noorunisa also does all the registrations for visiting doctors.

“We have doctors from all over the world. They come to work as volunteers, but they must all have HPCSA registrations. It takes a long time, up to a year, to register one doctor. I’ve probably met hundreds of overseas doctors. Many remain friends up to this day. I think the best part of the job is meeting all the overseas fellows, especially the ones from the African continent. They are like family. They’re part of our African family and we have many coming from Ghana, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and Tanzania.”

Noorunisa is an integral thread of her work tapestry. “Moving to the Surgery Department was the best decision for me. I love this place. I always say that I will retire from this department because the surgeons are the most amazing people to work with. I can honestly say I come to work every day happy and contented because of the people I work with; they are amazing.”