Keep sending doctors to train in Cuba, says Motlanthe
FORMER president Kgalema Motlanthe has urged the government to continue sending student doctors to Cuba for training.
“The training of doctors should never be discontinued.
“We must prepare meticulously for the return of these young South Africans training in Cuba,” Motlanthe said.
He was speaking in Freedom Park this week at the commemoration of the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale which ceased 30 years ago and has been described as the turning point in the struggle for the liberation and independence of the Southern Africa region.
The ceremony, hosted by the Embassy of Cuba and Friends of Cuba Society in SA, also took place to honour the legacy of Nelson Mandela.
Motlanthe said the bilateral agreement signed by Mandela and former Cuban leader Fidel Castro 22 years ago for medical doctors to be trained in Cubahad to be upheld.
“Upon the return of more than 700 of them, we need to know whether our teaching hospitals are ready to absorb them. We need to know if they will benefit our medical system.”
Motlanthe said the students had an integral role to play in the country’s health-care institutions. “We wait for people to get ill and then we treat them at hospitals. These doctors who will be coming back here are trained to prevent infections and that is what primary health care is all about,” he said.
He added that there needed to be a shift from a curative system to that of Cuba, which operates under a preventive system.
Motlanthe said the country had all the facilities needed for patients and said the doctor-training programme could be strengthened by availing these facilities for Cuban professors to train students here instead of sending them abroad.
“That’s something we must consider and get our leaders to embrace. The health of our people is a priority.
“This requires of us to be single-minded about it. It is the only ways we can honour the memory of Madiba and those who gave us freedom,” he said.
Speaking at the same event, ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule said the programme was important for the country.
His sentiments were echoed by Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini, who said the federation was proud local workers were sent to Cuba as part of a labour exchange programme.
“We have doctors that help us in deep rural areas. These are programmes that we will always look at and say indeed as a generation we were fortunate to have such,” he said.
The medical students training in Cuba are expected to return home in July.
While some officials have praised the training programme, Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi recently admitted that the programme had become a taxing exercise for government over the years.
Last year, a third-year student from KwaZulu-Natal committed suicide in Havana while two students – Sihle Cebo Makhaye and Sibusiso Thanks Ngeleka, also from the province – drowned in a swimming pool.
The Department of Health at the time said the students had hired a house for a birthday party.