Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said funding students to study under the Nelson Mandela Fidel Castro Programme had cost his department only around R23m annually, and not R300m as previously reported.
In a written reply to a parliamentary question from ActionSA, he also rubbished claims that their medical qualifications were not recognised by the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA), reports EWN.
Last month, the Auditor-General told Parliament’s Defence and Military Veterans committee that an analysis of the tuition of 108 students studying in Cuba had revealed a cost of R2.7m each, per year.
She said their medical course could be completed in South Africa for half the price.
But Motsoaledi denied this, telling ActionSA’s Dr Kgosi Letlape that government spends only around R146 000 per student annually.
The current cohort of 87 students, who started the programme in 2020, was costing around R13m a year, he added.
The Cuban cohort integrated into SA medical schools costs the state another R10m.
The Health Minister said the tuition costs for Cuba are on par with programmes in South Africa, which increase during each year of study – compared with the fixed amount for each of the five years of the Cuban programme.
The Cuban-trained student doctors spend 18 months in the SA integration programme and there was no segregation from their South African counterparts, he pointed out.
A media report at the end of November announced that the SA Military Health Service (SAMHS) is to finally curtail its costly medical training programme with Cuba and will no longer send students there for training – although those who are already there will be allowed to complete their courses.
The project has already cost taxpayers R2.6bn, News24 had reported, adding that the contracts, operated under Project Thusano, also included the deployment of Cuban mechanics to repair army vehicles and train South African technicians.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Costly Cuban medical training programme ended
Cuban medical training costs more than double than in SA
Costly Cuban doctor training programme drains provincial budgets