The controversial Cuban medical student training programme has come under the spotlight again after Health Minister Joe Phaahla revealed that the ballooning costs of training medical students in that country are double the cost of training them in SA.
In light of increasing budget restraints, the DA says it would be more prudent and make more economic sense to rather open more medical training facilities in SA, so that money can be more appropriately used in this country, reports BusinessLIVE.
SA has been sending medical students to Cuba since 1997 under the Nelson Mandela-Fidel Castro training programme, with the costs carried by provincial health departments. They spend their first year learning Spanish and then do five years of training at Cuban medical schools. They complete their training with 18 months at a medical school back in SA.
In response to questions asked by DA MP Haseena Ismail, Phaahla last week said it costs on average $20 180 a year, or more than R370 000 at current exchange rates, for tuition, meals, accommodation, insurance and a monthly stipend, for six years of study in Cuba.
This figure does not include at least two sets of return flights, or sending officials or psychologists to Cuba to deal with emergencies, he said.
The Cuban-trained students must also complete three semesters, or 18 months of training, at a South African medical school at a cost of more than R400 000.
The annual costs for their foreign training are $14 872 for the preparatory year learning Spanish; $21 422 for each of the first two years at medical school; $20 422 for years three and four; and $22 522 for the final year in Cuba, he said. On their return to SA, it cost R130 348 per semester at a local medical school for the year to June 2022, and R138 820 per semester in the year to June 2023.
In comparison, it costs the government about R150 000 per year to train medical students in SA.
The programme is under fresh scrutiny from the DA as provincial budgets shrink, Ismail saying that apart from the expense, SA students who go to Cuban medical schools face numerous challenges, including having to learn Spanish and contending with shortages of essential goods.
Provinces battle to absorb interns
Phaahla said 3 369 students had studied medicine in Cuba, and 2 617 had graduated to date.
UCT deputy dean for undergraduate education Kerrin Begg said SA’s 10 medical schools are projected to graduate about 1 900 locally trained doctors in 2023, and slightly more than 450 who had participated in the Cuban training programme.
While SA needs more doctors to serve its population, the budget pressures facing provincial health departments mean they are struggling to absorb medical graduates, she said.
“When you have an austerity budget and 70% of the budget is salaries, you cut salaries, and the easiest ones to cut are contract posts like internships,” she added.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
SIU investigation into Cuban doctor training programme
Motsoaledi is ‘crippling’ SA’s ability to train enough doctors
DOH asks parents of SA medical students in Cuba to send food and toiletries
Cuban medical training costs more than double than in SA