As a conscientious objector to military service in the 1980’s at Bethesda Hospital in north-eastern KwaZulu-Natal, he was involved in community initiatives in health in the Bethesda health ward, and completed his Masters thesis in Family Medicine on the topic “The Community Involvement of Rural Clinic Nurses”. Moving back to Durban after almost 10 years, he established a Vocational Training Programme for rural doctors at McCord Hospital. He then took up the position of director of a research unit called the Centre for Health and Social Studies (CHESS) at the University of Natal, and with his team, pursued a number of training and operational research projects in rural districts around KwaZulu-Natal, focused on the strengthening of the district health system.