SA is the winner as local doctors stay put

They were a special bunch back in 1994, being among the first matriculants of a democratic new South Africa. Six years later, 194 of them graduated as doctors at the University of the Witwatersrand.
Sunday Times, 22 March 2015

South Africa is still home to most of those traced - 89 out of the 111 contacted. The doctors who have stayed in South Africa - 80 of those the Sunday Times traced - may be the exception to the norm, but they do defy the widely held belief that doctors are leaving the country in droves. Many among the Wits class of 2000 have opted to remain in public service because they believed they had a "valuable contribution" to make to the state health system. Doctors contacted by the Sunday Times were able to identify about 22 of their classmates who were work abroad in the US the UK, Australia and New Zealand. 

Dr Melinda Suchard, who heads the centre for vaccines and immunology at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in Gauteng, said doctors opted to stay in South Africa because the medical training was excellent. She said home is home and things would have to be really bad for her to leave the country. Professor Peter Beale, a paediatric surgeon in private practice, said it was "very gratifying" that such a high number of these Wits doctors had opted to remain in the country. He said the opportunity for clinical experience in this country is there.

Dr Mark Sonderup, deputy chairman of the South African Medical Association, said he found it equally encouraging that so many of the class of 2000 from Wits were still home. However, he cautioned against "over-interpreting" the figures. He said with the human resource constraints SA has, we cannot afford to lose one doctor. And, he said, the days of doctors just flying off to the UK, Australia or Canada and setting up shop with a South African qualification were gone.

Sonderup said that in the past decade, countries have significantly tightened up on their registration requirements for foreign graduates. He said the South African government had also in the past decade formally requested countries such as the UK to stop poaching local doctors. Wits vice-chancellor Professor Adam Habib said the fact that doctors produced by his institution were staying in the country was a good sign.

He said that in recent years he has noticed quite a number of our students who do remain in our country and provide a service to the nation. Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi said the figures showed that not all the country's doctors were "fleeing in droves". He said that when he attended his 30-year reunion at what had been the University of Natal, he found most of his classmates from 32 years ago were still practising in South Africa.