'Regularly licensed and properly educated practitioners': professionalisation 1860-1910

This chapter explores the later professionalisation of medicine at the Cape, particularly after the discovery of diamonds and gold, when the number of doctors increased. As the demand for an improved public health system grew, and the Colonial Medical Committee was unable to cope with the more complex demands of the colony, legislation was gradually set in place to transform the practice of medicine. This legislation included a Public Health Act, improved censuses, the registration of births and deaths, and a more effective registration of nurses as well as doctors and pharmacists. By the time the Cape entered the Union in 1910, it possessed modern, well-organised medical structures.