After many decades of putting his heart and soul into his practice for the betterment of his patients, the well-known and much-loved Dr Louis Leipoldt has retired.
His decision to shut his large and successful medical practice was met with tears when he officially hung up his stethoscope last week.
Leipoldt, 81, said he never thought he would retire, but decided to do so after overcoming a brave battle with Covid-19 during the second wave.
Following in the footsteps of his late grandfather who was a medical doctor, Leipoldt said becoming a doctor had been a dream of his ever since he was a little boy.
After he matriculated in his hometown of Springbok in Namaqualand, he studied medicine at Stellenbosch University in the 1960s.
Once he completed his internship at Karl Bremer Hospital in Cape Town, he worked at Livingstone Hospital on a full-time basis for four years and has been in Gqeberha ever since.
His reputation in the city precedes him as he has delivered thousands of babies and became the go-to doctor for mothers who needed to do foetal scans.
Back in the day, Leipoldt would do house calls day and night.
Many of his patients have been with him for between 20 and 54 years.
“It was heartbreaking saying goodbye to all of my patients,” he said.
Many a mother can attest to the fact that Leipoldt was spot on at detecting the sex of their babies during the earlier stages, never once missed a diagnosis of an infant who had Down’s syndrome, and was a pro at detecting potential threats to an expectant mother or her baby.
Leipoldt went into general practice because he chose not to specialise in a particular field.
“I always want to be referred to as a general practitioner.”
He did, however, spend years broadening his knowledge in general medicine, occupational medicine, foetal scanning, diving medicine, hyperbaric medicine, and wound care for diabetics.
While working as a GP, Leipoldt continued to do surgeries, obstetrics and anaesthetics for Livingstone Hospital for 10 years.
Intrigued by foetal ultrasounds, Leipoldt furthered his studies in the field at the Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia in the US in 1981.
He later broadened his knowledge in foetal ultrasounds through The Fetal Medicine Foundation in London.
“One of the many highlights was assisting a woman who was expecting quadruplets.
“I have also delivered the babies of three generations.
“This is a rather difficult field, but it is important to detect any defect and potential threats.”
Leipoldt’s general practice broadened after his passion for scuba diving led him to do hyperbaric and diving medicine.
He passed his exams at the Simon’s Town Naval Base.
While he was practising hyperbaric medicine a lot of patients were coming to Leipoldt with septic wounds due to diabetes, which led to his diabetes practice, where he and two nurses did wound care.
Hard work, living a clean lifestyle with lots of exercise, meditating and getting enough sleep, are what Leipoldt believes kept him healthy over the years.
He ran his first Two Oceans Marathon at the age of 64.
“I never thought I would retire, but recovering from Covid has caused me to have bouts of brain fog at times.
“It has forced me to slow down,” he said.
Expectant mothers will be happy to know that though Leipoldt has retired, he plans on opening a foetal ultrasound centre again after a three-month sabbatical.
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