UKZN welcomes Cuban trained medical students
126 medical students returning home after five years of study in Cuba have joined UKZN.
THE University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) recently welcomed 126 medical students returning home after five years of study in Cuba.
The Nelson Mandela – Fidel Castro Collaboration students who are participants of the Cuba – South Africa Medical Training Programme will now complete the final phase of their studies and training at the UKZN College of Health Sciences. The new cohort adds to the previous 99 returning students who joined UKZN in 2018.
The programme, which forms part of a Bi-National Agreement between South Africa and Cuba – signed by the late former Presidents, Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro, is aimed at addressing the shortage of medical skills in South Africa.
Over the next 18 months, the students will receive training at a number of Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) accredited teaching hospitals spread across the province, including Addington, Stanger, RK Khan, Prince Mshiyeni, King Edward VIII, Queen Nandi, Ngwelezane, Port Shepstone, Newcastle, King Dinizulu, Estcourt, St Apollinaris, Nkandla and Wentworth hospitals.
UKZN’s College of Health Sciences together with the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health, began preparing for the large intake of students through its Decentralised Clinical Training programme (DCTP). The DCTP is an initiative to train UKZN students in regional and district hospitals in the province of KwaZulu-Natal and eventually in community health clinics and community health centres in rural areas. The programme also allows for the transformation of the curriculum to ensure that it produces ‘fit for purpose’ health professionals serving the needs of all communities in KZN and not just those in the main metropolitan areas.
The programme is centred on a primary health care curriculum in line with the National Health Insurance. The Cuban trained medical students return with much needed expertise in primary healthcare, health promotion, health education and the prevention of diseases.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the UKZN College of Health Sciences, Prof Busisiwe Ncama said the university is looking forward to the successful integration of the new cohort of medical students.
“Our Decentralised Clinical Training Programme has allowed for us to expand our training into district and rural hospitals ensuring that all our graduates are fit for purpose and able to manage the daily dilemmas of clinical practice, especially in our resource constrained healthcare system,” said Ncama.
The students will rotate through clinical teaching blocks of surgical practice, obstetrics and gynaecology, internal medicine, child health, primary care and mental health. Upon completion of the course the students will serve their internships and community service training in South Africa to register with the HPCSA as medical doctors.
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