Health

1. The Western Cape Government health has in the past not participated in the Cuban Medical Scholarship programme. The Department has been consistent in indicating that there are other solutions available to the challenge the country faces. The problem to be addressed is both the number of medical students that are required to address the needs of the Country, but also the relevance of training, especially to have a more PHC and rural oriented training and exposure. In the past most of the medical student training happened in the tertiary settings. The further challenge is that the human resources plan indicating the number of medical doctors required in the country has not yet been concluded at a national level.

The Cuban training model has several shortcomings and challenges, one of which is the cost of training and accommodating students in a foreign country with a foreign language and disease profile, and to provide further training on their return to the country of origin.

The funding issue must be seen against the backdrop of the current challenge across provinces to appoint intern doctors are currently being trained in the country. An increased number of intern doctors from the Cuban programme will further exacerbate challenge provinces are currently having to accommodate the intern doctors trained in the country. Provinces, furthermore, experience challenges to appoint qualified doctors due to the lack of funding available.