Dr David Pieter (DP) Marais

Extract from SA Medical Journal 5 Nov 1955

DR. DAVID PIETER MARAIS

David Pieter Marais was born at Stellenbosch, Cape Province,

the son of Professor J. I. Marais, first Chancellor of the University

of Stellenbosch. He was educated at the Victoria College, Stellenbosch,

and later proceeded to the University of Edinburgh where

he graduated M.B., Ch.B. in 1904 and took the degree of M.D.

in 1906. After graduation he spent some time on the Continent

and in America in postgraduate study.

On his return to South Africa he practised at Worcester, Cape

Province, for some years and then settled in general practice at

Sea Point. In 1914 he was appointed Additional Physician to the

New Somerset Hospital and served continuously on the staff of

that hospital and the Groote Schuur Hospital from 1914 to 1945.

He was Senior Lecturer in Clinical Medicine in the University

of Cape Town from 1921 to 1945. He took the diploma of M.R.C.P.

(Edin.) in 1925 and was elected Fellow in 1930. In 1940 he became

a Fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians.

In the course of a long and distinguished career in private

practice as a specialist physician in Cape Town, Dr. Marais has

given generously of his time in the service of his profession, both

within and outside the Medical Association. He was Honorary

Secretary of the Cape Western Branch from 1913 to 1915 and was

elected President of the Branch in 1921. He was President of the

Southern Peninsula Medical Society in 1939 and Chairman of

the Cape Town Postgraduate Association in 1949. On several

occasions he has been President of the Section of Medicine at the

Annual Congresses of the Medical Association, and in 1932 was

honoured by being elected Vice-President of the Section of Tuberculosis

at the Centenary Meeting of the British Medical Association.

From 1951 to 1954 he was Chairman of the Cape Town

Group of the Association of Physician, and at present is the

Chairman of the National Group. He has been a member of

Federal Council on three occasions, 1926 to 1927, 1933 to 1934,

and 1940 to 1945.

He was an original member of the committee appointed by

Federal Council to establish the College of Physicians and Surgeons

of South Africa, and is a signatory to the Memorandum of

Association of the College.

Dr. Marais is perhaps best known for his long and enthusiastic

work in the prevention of tuberculosis. He served on the first

Public Health Council, Union of South Africa, from 1919 to

1925, and was Chairman of the Association for the Prevention

of Consumption from 1913 to 1925. He is now chairman

Cape Province Tuberculosis Council, and is a member of the

executive of the South African National Tuberculosis Association.

In 1947 he was appointed Regent for South Africa of the American

Collge of Chest Physicians.

He is a founder and life member of the Sunshine Homes for

Children, Bellville, and Vice-Chairman of the National Christmas

Stamp Fund. He has travelled extensively to all parts of the

world as a delegate to international and other congresses dealing

with his particular speciality.

In recognition of his valuable services to his profession, his

long and faithful membership of the Medical Association, his

outstanding qualities as a physician, and the notable part he has

played in the. campaign against tuberculosis, the Medical Association

of South Africa has resolved to award to Dr. Marais the

Bronze Medal of the Association.

THE D. P. MARAIS SANTA CENTRE AT WESTLAKE

On 4 July 1957 the first patients were admitted to the D. P. Marais

Tuberculosis Centre at Westlake, Cape, which has been established

by the Cape Tuberculosis Council acting on behalf of the South

African National Tuberculosis Association.

The new Centre consists of 32 existing blocks, part of the

extensive encampment at Westlake originally built by the British

Government during World War IT and ceded to the Union Government

after the war. Conveniently sited as to water, power and

communications, these buildings now include the Westlake Chest

Hospital (for Europeans) of the Union Government, the Dr.

Stals Memorial Sanatorium (for Coloured females) of the Cape

Divisional Council and the new D. P. Marais SANTA Centre

(for Coloured males), besides blocks occupied by the Union

Government for various purposes.

Taking its place as an integral part of the clinic-hospital set-up

of the Cape Peninsula, its proper function will be to speed up the

turn-over of beds in the chest hospitals. It will take over cases

from the tuberculosis clinics immediately after diagnosis has

been established and will control and treat them until there is a

hospital bed vacant, or until they are discharged to the clinic

for convalescent observation and control. It will make an

immediate end of the waiting list for tuberculous Coloured males,

a matter which has been a standing reproach for many years.

This quick and effective handling of the case is the very basis

of success in tuberculosis work-and is also the essence of the

rationale of the Edinburgh Plan as. conceived and elaborated by

the late Sir Robert Philip, the centenary of whose birth is being

celebrated this year.

After prolonged negotiations with Government departments,

the buildings have been made available to SA TA, who have

repaired and equipped them. The local authorities concerned,

viz. the Cape Town City Council (Dr. E. D. Cooper, MOH)

and the Cape Divisional Council (Dr. J. P. de Villiers, MOH),

are accepting responsibility for the cost of the first 130 patients

and will recover 7/8ths of this expenditure from the Union

Government.

Mr. C. E. J. van Vlaanderen, hitherto in charge of the FOSA

Settlement (SANTA) at the Cape, has been appointed as the

first Warden. His knowledge and experience have been of great

value at the outset of this project. Dr. P. Scher, Medical Superintendent

of the adjoining Westlake Chest Hospital, has kindly undertaken

to provide the necessary medical advice.

While the occupation of only 100 beds is at present guaranteed,

it will be possible, subject to the necessary financial provision,

to fill the Centre up to 320 beds or more. To this end the committee

of management, drawn from medical and business members of

the Cape Province Tuberculosis Council will bend all its energies

as it calls on the contributing public, through SANTA, for fullest

support in this significant effort.

By unanimous resolution approved by SANTA, the Executive

of the Cape Tuberculosis Council decided to name this project

the D. P. Marais SANTA Centre in recognition of the long and'

close association of Dr. D. P. Marais with the tuberculosis

campaign in South Africa. The first anti-tuberculosis movement

in South Africa was founded in 1904 as the Association for the

Prevention of Consumption, of which Dr. D. P. Marais was

hon. secretary under the late Dr. A. Jasper Anderson (MOH

of Cape Town) and later chairman. Ahout 1925 the Association

was reconstituted as the Cape Province Tuberculosis Council,

which became one of the foundation pillars of SANTA. Dr.

Marais' public service in the anti-tuberculosis field has covered

a period of 50 years and dates from a public lecture which he

gave in 1907 in the old Town House of Cape Town (now Michaelis

Gallery) under the chairmanship of the late Dr. H. A. Moffat.

It is to commemorate this long and faithful devotion to a cause

that the Council have named the new Centre after him.