After years of backlash over South African medical students studying in Cuba at allegedly double the cost of local medical education, the National Department of Health (NDoH) said it was working to gradually adopt a Cuban medical curriculum in South African medical universities and colleges . Ten medical students leave for Cuba Gauteng IEC Health Mrs Nomantu Nkoma-Ralehoka yesterday bid farewell to 10 medical students who will be going to Cuba to study medicine as part of the Nelson Mandela Fidel Castro Medical Training Programme. Selection Participant and Dean of the School of Medicine, Sefaka Makgato University of Medical Sciences, Professor Risenga…
After years of backlash over South African medical students studying in Cuba at allegedly double the cost of local medical education, the National Department of Health (NDoH) said it was working to gradually adopt a Cuban medical curriculum in South African medical universities and colleges .
Ten medical students go to Cuba
Gauteng MEC for Health Ms Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko yesterday said goodbye to 10 medical students who will be going to Cuba to study medicine as part of the Nelson Mandela Fidel Castro Medical Training Program.
Panelist and Dean of the School of Medicine, Sefaka Makgat University of Health Sciences, Professor Rizenga Chauke, congratulated the top ten and said that while the program was amazing for the students, he was encouraged to hear that “Finally the Minister of Health, Dr. Joe Faahla and Deputy Dr. Sibongiseni Maxwell Dloma planned to take this curriculum home.”
NDoH’s Foster Mohale confirmed Chauke’s statement and said he was unaware of the progress; The department worked to ensure that many aspects of the Cuban program for SA.
“Instead of sending more students to this side, we want to bring teachers to this side, but we have to also bring the higher education department because we don’t own the universities,” he said.
Mohale said that the cost of the curriculum, modules and teachers will be very minimal compared to taking students to Cuba, as it has been for more than 22 years.
She says that the idea can work
The South African Medical Association (Sama) said the idea would only work if the department was prepared to adapt the Cuban program for the SA system and adopt only certain parts of the program.
“There’s nothing wrong with the SA curriculum, it’s just that it’s more guest-oriented, we actually need to make it more community-oriented,” she said.
“But we can’t have exactly the same curriculum as in Cuba because their health care is different, but I agree that it’s very important to strengthen our curriculum and make it less guest-oriented, instead of charging these strict amounts money for the education of several outside the country. country”.
“The idea does not make financial sense, so it would be good if they could stay in South Africa and strengthen our universities and teaching hospitals to accommodate more students in the future rather than sending them out of the country.”
The Gauteng Provincial Legislature’s spokesperson for health, Jack Bloom, has previously criticized the Gauteng government and said the money would be better spent on “expanding education at Gauteng’s three medical schools, rather than paying an exorbitant amount for study abroad, which still requires an extra year local training”.
The number of South Africans is declining
Meanwhile, the number of Gauteng students studying medicine in Cuba has dropped again from 264 in 2019, 114 in 2020, 25 in 2021 and now ten this year.
When asked why the numbers had dropped so dramatically, Gauteng Department of Health spokesperson Motolatale Modiba said the controversial program was expensive and the department wanted to make sure they were able to cover the full cost without hesitation.
MEC Nkomo-Ralehoko also congratulated the students and said Cuba has one of the world’s highest numbers of doctors per capita and is renowned for its focus on prevention, community-based primary care and preparedness to fight epidemics.
“They have one of the most vibrant health systems in the world and that’s what I want for Gauteng and the country as a whole,” she added.
She also said students would complete medical studies at SA universities to help them better understand the country’s system, and noted that the department would help students find jobs after the program.
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