Question NW273 to the Minister of Health
05 April 2016 - NW273
Madisha, Mr WM to ask the Minister of Health
(1)Whether the Government has any policy in place to encourage junior doctors as well as medical specialists from countries where training is comparable or even superior to our own to be able to do stints in our country because they wanted to (a) contribute to medicine in our country, (b) learn from our medical practitioners, (c) volunteer their services for a good cause and (d) participate in a doctor exchange scheme; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details of the steps the Government has taken to encourage doctors to come to South Africa for stints of service; (2) whether he will make a statement on creating softer borders for doctors who obtained their qualifications in a country where medical education is of international standard?
Reply:
- Yes. The recruitment of foreign nationals as medical doctors to work in South Africa is regulated by the foreign recruitment policy adopted by the National Health Council in 2010. The policy does provide for recruitment of health professionals and exchange programmes through government-to-government agreements for experienced medical doctors and lecturers to come to South Africa to impart their skills to our local doctors and undergraduate students in medicine. An example of this is the Cuba/South Africa agreement. In recent years, a number of lecturers from highly renowned universities abroad also came to South Africa to contribute to the training of our young doctors and the Department is still processing applications on an ongoing basis from countries all across the globe to perform volunteer services for shorter periods of time in South Africa.
- There is adequate provision in the Health Professions Act for the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) to recognise qualifications in medicine from countries where the education is of international standard. All foreign nationals who wish to reside in South Africa are also subject to the country’s immigration law where there are provisions to ease up the recruitment of critical skills for the public health sector.
END.