• SAMLA members have been e mailed and are informed of the AGM on 5 December 2020. It will be online and the details will be sent out at a later stage.
• We have sent out e mails to SAMLA members about courses and please see the Regional Seminars/courses page for advertisements of courses offered by SAMLA as well as other stakeholders in medico-legal practice. The latest one that we advertise is a course offered by UCT in association with Burns-Hoffman Consulting.)
• Do you know that your professional indemnity may not cover you for your medico-legal work, even if you have declared that you conduct such work? Contact your insurer to check.

SAMLA offers National Courses on Medico-Legal Practice which  have been designed and presented by the Faculty of SAMLA and accredited by the Faculty of Law at the University of Cape Town.They have been accredited by the HPCSA for 30 CPD points.

Foundations in Medico-Legal Practice is a short course. It cannot be viewed in part but only as a complete course. The course can be attended for CPD purposes, or it can be completed by attendees who write a once-off multiple choice examination and, if successful, are issued with a certificate of completion from the Faculty of Law at UCT. Completion of the Foundations Course in Medico-Legal Practice also qualifies attendees who are members of SAMLA for registration as medico-legal practitioners. (Note that SAMLA recognises prior learning as well, and completion of the Foundations Course is not the only route to being able to qualify as a medico-legal practitioner).

The 10 Practical Workshops in Medico-Legal Practice can be done individually or as a whole. The courses may be attended for CPD purposes or, if all assignments that are assigned are completed successfully by the attendees, a certificate of completion from UCT is awarded for each course completed.

Attendees who complete successfully the Foundations Course in Medico-Legal practice as well as the 10 Practical Workshops qualify for a Certificate of Competence in Medico-Legal Practice issued by the Faculty of Law at UCT.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the courses are all now online. 

Azlyn Creative is the service provider responsible for the administrative management of the National Courses.  For all information, registration, payment, and access to the courses, please go to http://samla.co.za

SAMLA is intent on the professionalisation of medico-legal practice as a means of promoting ethical and competent medico-legal practice, and to develop standards of practice.  In our MOI, we describe what SAMLA defines as a "Medico-Legal Practitioner". To appear on the SAMLA Register of Medico-Legal Practitioners , one must  be a member of SAMLA, and then one can apply to SAMLA to have one's credentials evaluated by SAMLA's Credentialling Committee. If the applicant fulfils the specificed citeria, he or she may register as a Medico-Legal Practitioner with SAMLA.

SAMLA’s application to SAQA to be recognised  is almost complete.

The proposed tiers of registration as Medico-Legal Practitioners have been circulated to the broader membership for consideration, but not yet been established. We envision three tiers - an entry level, a senior level and an advanced level, to reflect experience and seniority, and to promote a development trajectory.

What is really important is that SAMLA is not, and does not intend ever to be a regulatory body. We do not, in any way, see our role as supervisory. The registers are simply lists of persons in the medico-legal field who voluntarily show that they have pursued learning in this field, demonstrate competency,  and are willing to commit themelves to a code of conduct.