PARLIAMENTARY DELEGATION COMMITS TO INTERVENE ON CHALLENGES FACING SA MEDICAL STUDENTS IN CUBA
Parliament, Friday 21 September 2018 – The multiparty parliamentary delegation, currently visiting Cuba, has unanimously agreed that an intervention Is required to address the concerns faced by South African medical students studying in Cuba. The delegation met representatives of the students in Havana on Thursday.
The students are beneficiaries of the Nelson Mandela/Fidel Castro Medical Students Training Collaboration in Cuba. The two iconic leaders founded the programme through the Bilateral Health Co-operation Agreement.
The programme is intended to introduce a new health care model focusing on primary and preventative health care services. The programme has opened opportunities for financially disadvantaged students. The programme requires graduates to undergo compulsory service in the communities from which they were recruited. There are currently 1 951 South African students studying in Cuba. To date, 651 students have graduated as medical doctors and about 712 are completing their sixth and final year in South Africa.
At their meeting with the official parliamentary delegation, students expressed their gratitude at the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study medicine free of charge at some of the world’s best medical universities in Cuba. However, they also spoke of difficulties and made an impassioned plea for the parliamentary delegation to intervene. Difficulties which the students raised included transport, inadequate stipends and differing levels of support by different provinces in South Africa.
The students told the delegation that the lack of standardisation in the extent to which provinces supported students was a potential source of divisions among them. Although the agreement was signed at a national level, the provinces are responsible for funding the students. This means that the standard of support is inconsistent and varies, depending on the province from which they come.