SOUTH AFRICA- The South African government owes its citizens an explanation for deploying 217 medical doctors without any prior address or revelation of key details.
Many questions are on the lips of millions of South Africans who are curious as to why the government deployed the medical doctors from Cuba upon their arrival on South African shores on 26 April besides claims of unemployed South African doctors sitting without employment. It remains unclear at this stage whether South Africa has a shortage of Health professionals and how much it will cost the country on the deployment of the Cuban doctors.
The Minister of Health, Zweli Mkhize, has not clarified the exact reasons why South African doctors cannot tackle the Covid-19 without Cuban doctors, however, according to the Cuban Embassy, “It is the team of specialized Cuban Medical Brigade that arrived in South Africa to assist in the efforts against #Covid_19”, tweeted the Cuban Embassy which in its statement said: “The 217 Cuban Health professionals include Family physicians, Epidemiologists, Biostatists, and Healthcare Technology Engineers, Biotechnology experts amongst others. However, the question remains, does this listing of experts by Cuba suggest that South Africa does not have these expertise?
Furthermore, there are claims that the Cuban doctors are going to allegedly cost the government around R439 916 337 for flights, accommodations, salaries and HPCSA registration amongst others according to former Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba’s speculative tweet. One social media user arguably wrote, “You are aware that in the medical field there are specialists mos. The fact that you are qualified medical doctor doesn’t mean you can deal with all conditions right? I mean at your level that should be obvious right?”, while one responded, “No one specializes in Corona virus, there’s no such expertise, that’s why it’s called NOVEL coronavirus. It’s new and unknown to all”, responded another social media user.
Mpumalanga’s Democratic Alliance (DA) provincial leader, Jane Sithole, said the DA welcomes any additional allocation of resources in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic; especially the use of medical specialists in the system.
“However, this should always be balanced with utilizing our South African healthcare professionals first. We have a depth of specialists and generalists who should be at the forefront of this fight and we should rely only on foreign aid where there are gaps in our own capacity,” Sithole said responding to Highveld Chronicle.
“The DA will be asking parliamentary questions through our counterparts in the National Assembly around the current capacity of healthcare professionals in the country – broken down in areas of specializations so we can make sure that those people are put to work and allocated in the various provinces first,” she added.
On the issue of the cost brought by the Cuban doctors, Sithole said: “It is key to note that this deployment of Cuban health professionals comes at a great public cost. The Department of Health needs to be transparent about the exact cost, where this will be obtained from and how that affects the country’s need to accelerate testing, tracing and tracking.”
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) CIC Julius Malema said during the EFF Virtual Freedom Day Rally: “We thank the Cuban doctors who have gone to the frontline and fight Coronavirus, and we also want to welcome them to South Africa.”
The Health spokesperson Lwazi Manzi is mum regarding the exact details of the deployment of the doctors, where they will be placed and if there is indeed a need or if the country has a shortage of Health professionals.
