About the practice
About Dr I O Vawda
A specialist paediatrician who has cared for the children of Northern KwaZulu-Natal for more than 25 years, with the calm experience that puts parents at ease.
Meet Dr Vawda
Experience parents trust, care children feel
Dr Ismail Osman Vawda is a specialist paediatrician based at Lenmed La Verna Private Hospital in Ladysmith. He completed his undergraduate degree (MBBS) at Mangalore University, then obtained his Diploma in Child Health (SA), followed by his Fellowship of the College of Paediatricians of South Africa.
With more than 25 years' experience managing neonates, general paediatrics, chronic conditions and immunisations (preventative care), Dr Vawda has built his practice around the families of Northern KwaZulu-Natal. From a baby's very first breath through the school years, your child is in experienced, compassionate hands.
- 25+ years caring for children across Northern KwaZulu-Natal
- Fellow of the College of Paediatricians of South Africa
- Based at Lenmed La Verna Private Hospital, Ladysmith
Credentials
Qualifications
- MBBS
- Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore University (1990)
- Diplomate in Child Health (DCH)
- College of Medicine of South Africa (April 1994)
- Fellow of the College of Paediatricians of South Africa (FCPaed SA)
- College of Paediatricians of South Africa (May 1997)
Career
A career in paediatric medicine
- 1990–1992
- Moroka Hospital
- 1992
- King Edward VIII Hospital (Department of Medicine)
- 1993
- Ladysmith Provincial Hospital (Obstetrics & Surgery)
- 1993–1998
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Natal
- 1998
- Full-time Paediatric Consultant, Ladysmith Provincial Hospital
- 1998–present
- Sessional consultant
Recognition
Voted Best Paediatrician by Ladysmith readers
In the Best of Ladysmith Readers' Choice Awards 2025, the community voted Dr Vawda first place in the Best Paediatrician category. Recognition like this belongs to the whole practice team, and above all to the families who put their trust in us year after year.
Giving back
Care beyond the consulting room
In August 2011, at the height of the Somali famine, Dr Vawda volunteered with the Gift of the Givers Foundation and flew to Mogadishu. For ten days the team worked out of a building that still had a roof, treating between three and five hundred people a day, many of whom had walked for hundreds of kilometres to reach them.
Asked once how he copes with the crying that fills a paediatric practice, his answer says most of what a parent needs to know about him:
"I love to help children. People often ask me 'What about all of the crying?' That has never even occurred to me, I can't even imagine why that would be a problem."
Dr I O Vawda, Get It Northern KZN, December 2011
- Volunteered with the Gift of the Givers Foundation in Somalia, 2011
- Ten days in Mogadishu treating 300 to 500 patients a day
- Born and raised in Ladysmith, and practising here since returning home
Need to see a paediatrician?
Phone the rooms at La Verna Medical Centre to arrange an appointment for your child. We are here to help.