Dr Richard Friedland
A doctor by training, Dr Friedland spent three decades at Netcare and led it as CEO for nearly twenty years. As he retires, he is giving his personal library to the people he worked alongside.
“It has been a lifetime blessing to be part of Netcare.” Dr Richard Friedland
A life in healthcare
Before Netcare, Dr Friedland was operations director at Medicross, where he helped set up medical centres across the country. He joined Netcare in early 1997 as chief operating officer. He then helped establish Netcare in the United Kingdom and ran the group's international division from 2002 to 2005.
In September 2005 he became chief executive. Under his leadership Netcare grew into South Africa's largest hospital group. It built five new flagship hospitals and started Netcare 911, Netcare Diagnostics and NetcarePlus. In recent years he also led its long-term strategy of person-centred care, built on digital tools, data and AI.
Beyond the hospital
He has long pushed for Netcare to serve the wider community. In 1998 the group opened its first clinic for survivors of sexual assault, and that one clinic has since grown into a network of 39.
My Walk. Hospitals throw away tonnes of PVC from single-use drip bags, oxygen masks and tubing. Dr Friedland saw a better use for it. With Adcock Ingram Critical Care, Netcare began collecting the clean, non-hazardous PVC and recycling it. The first project, with the City of Johannesburg in 2018, turned it into shoe soles. Under the My Walk name the partners now make complete new school shoes for children who would otherwise go to school barefoot. The shoes are made entirely from recycled material and can themselves be recycled. A women-owned waste business handles the recycling, so the scheme creates jobs and keeps waste out of landfill too.
By September 2025, My Walk had given away 300 000 pairs. Dr Friedland and Adcock Ingram's Colin Sheen are credited with guiding it from the start. He has said the idea goes back to his mother, a schoolteacher, who made sure he had a new pair of school shoes every year as a matter of dignity.
Why a library
A book on a private shelf is read once. A book on a shared shelf can be read many times. As Dr Friedland steps down from the board at the end of 2026, these books stay behind for the colleagues who shared his work. Anyone can add to the collection by logging a book of their own.
Timeline
- Before 1997Operations director, Medicross
- 1997Joins Netcare as chief operating officer
- 2002–2005CEO, Netcare International, including the UK business
- 2005Appointed Netcare Group CEO
- 2018Hospital drip bags first recycled into school-shoe soles, with Adcock Ingram and the City of Johannesburg
- 2020My Walk launches at Chivirikani Primary School in Katlehong
- 2025My Walk passes 300 000 pairs of school shoes donated
- 2026Retires from the board, 31 December. Melanie Da Costa takes over as CEO from January 2027.