Nigeria-born medical practitioner from Anambra State, Dr. Anderson Chinedu Tochukwu Anyikwa, on September 12, 2025, emerged the only graduating neurosurgeon produced by the famous Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, Ga-Rankuwa, Pretoria, South Africa.
Though the University has been producing neurosurgeons for more than 15 years now, Dr. Anyikwa was the only candidate that stood for graduation in the field of neurosurgery during this 2025 season. He bagged a Master of Medicine Degree.
He is now a Consultant/Specialist in Neurosurgery at the Sefako Makgatho University and Dr. George Mukhari Academic Hospital, South Africa; a Fellow College of Neurosurgeons (South Africa). The title of his winning research is: “Evaluating the Epidemiology and Outcome of Motorized Gate Related Head Injuries in Paediatric Patients at Dr. George Mukhari Academic Hospital South Africa”. The study was done along with two colleagues at the hospital – Dr. Adrian Kelly and Professor Patrick Lekgwara.
Significantly, this feat was accomplished against many odds. The 53-year-old medical practitioner demonstrated typical Nigerian resilience and power of determination. Dr. Anderson Anyikwa had graduated from Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) College of Health Sciences, Nnewi, in February 2004 with MBBS Degree in Medicine. Shortly after his graduation from UNIZIK, he left Nigeria for South Africa to pursue his professional and specialist career in neurosurgery.
In 2009, he obtained a Post-Graduate Diploma in Obstetrics and in 2013, a Higher Diploma in Surgery. In 2023, exactly ten years after, having overcome “severe tempests and tornadoes” that manifested in several ways, he was able to scale through all the hurdles. Since 2013, however, Dr. Anderson Anyikwa has been working at the Department of Neurosurgery at Sefako Makgatho University and Dr. George Mukhari Academic Hospital South Africa.
