Chantelle van der Bijl
Nominee's Province:
Free State
Project Name/Description:
Bloem Momdoc
Dr Chantelle van der Bijl, popularly known as the Bloem Momdoc, is a specialist family physician in a government hospital as well as a senior lecturer at the University of the Free State. She is also a wife to Simon and mom to Lara (6 years), Alana (4 years) and Nina (4 months).
She started her blog, Bloem Momdoc, on Facebook because a lot of her friends asked her for medical and parenting advice. “I saw the need to teach parents and those around them good evidence-based medicine in parenting and other health conditions.” Bloem Momdoc has since grown to over
22 000 followers.
“People expect doctors to be credible and knowledgeable. I think by being a mommy myself, working full-time and trying to juggle it all in between, makes me relatable to the audience,” she relates.
Dr Van der Bijl believes women are at the forefront of breaking research and changing medical policies in our country, and she couldn’t be more proud. “We see more and more doctors taking leadership positions and specialising in fields that were previously male-dominated,” she adds.
