From a childhood dream of becoming a doctor, to balancing high-risk anaesthesiology and pioneering a ketamine clinic with her family life, Dr Elzaan Coetzee embodies precision, compassion, and unshakable faith.
Dr Elzaan Coetzee’s journey into medicine began at age four, after a month-long hospital stay. “On the day of discharge, the staff gave me a ‘going home’ present consisting of expired drips and cannulas and since then I started ‘treating’ everyone”. This sparked a calling, leading her to qualify as a specialist medical doctor in anaesthesiology by 30 at the University of the Free State, with a special interest in open vascular and hepatobiliary anaesthesia.
Now a senior consultant at Universitas Academic Hospital and an independent practitioner, she balances public and private sectors. “The academic environment keeps me up-to-date, accountable to peers, humbled by challenging high risk cases,” she says, valuing the opportunity to train junior doctors. In 2021, she founded the Ketamine Clinic at Bloemcare Psychiatric Hospital, for managing treatment-resistant depression. “The clinic aligns with South African anaesthetic guidelines, hospital protocols – with patient safety as a priority,” while cherishing the multidisciplinary teamwork and community impact.
Beyond medicine, family anchors her. Married to an “outgoing, adventurous and supportive man,” they raise two “bright, humorous and beautiful boys.” She reflects, “Having children, gave me new perspective to life – a new depth to love.” Morning goodbyes to her family are non-negotiable, ensuring “they know that they are loved and being prayed for daily”.
Self-care, including weight training, Barre, and Krav Maga, is equally vital. “It is not just for staying fit, but to enhance personal strength, discipline and to appreciate being healthy”.
Anaesthesiology, to Dr Coetzee, demands precision and compassion. “Being an anaesthesiologist is about being trustworthy, with the emphasis on being ‘worthy”. Difficult cases taught her empathy: “It is having the awareness that you are in a position to give support and possible answers or closure to another’s prayer.”
Guided by faith, she balances her roles as doctor, wife, and mother. “I have chosen to be deeply committed to my profession, and to be fiercely present in my family,” she affirms.
Text and photograph by Warren Hawkins
