His saviours inspired future doc

SCARRED and determined, Njabulo Zwane wants nothing but to become a doctor.

The 19-year-old from Sebokeng, near Vereeniging, has an ambition to emulate the Sebokeng Hospital doctors who saved his life when he was six months old.

His sister had accidentally dropped boiling home-made paraffin and wax polish on his face and chest.

“I might not remember the pain or the faces of doctors who saved my life, but I want to do the same for others,” he said.

Zwane is among 116 young South Africans who will this week jet off to study medicine in Cuba.

Gauteng currently has 30 new doctors who studied in Cuba working in the province ’ s hospitals.

According to Department of Health spokesman Joe Maila, the ongoing Cuba-SA doctor training programme has yielded a total 377 doctors nationally since its inception in the early 1990s.

He said 128 returned from Cuba this year, 64 in their final year at local universities and 64 in bridging year.

Zwane, who matriculated at Qedilizwe Secondary School last year, had dreamed of becoming a policeman.

But this changed when he was 10 after his mother told him how he wouldn ’ t be alive today if it weren ’ t for doctors who treated his burn wounds.

“Every time I look at my scarred face in the mirror, it just makes me more determined to become a doctor.”

Yvonne Skosana, SA-Cuba doctor training programme manager for the provincial health department, said they had targeted 120 students this year but four had pulled out at the last minute.

She said some cited “family issues ” while others pulled out after the hunger strike by 190 South African students in Cuba early this year, demanding that their stipend be increased.

Skosana said it costs government R33-million to train a doctor in Cuba for six years.

Zwane said he did not care about the stipend: “I just want to become a doctor.”