Jobless doctors show that South Africa is sick

It is perhaps just another tragedy in the tapestry of tragedies which make up everyday life in South Africa, but our story today of one of the hundreds of young, qualified and eager doctors who sit around without jobs shows there is something wrong with the way the country is being run.

This is someone who spent six years of his life studying, foregoing the partying that others in their 20s take for granted.

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He put in two gruelling years as an intern in a poorly resourced government hospital and even willingly completed a year of community service in a rural hospital. In the past year, he has applied to 25 state hospitals without success.

He wants to specialise – something he cannot do at a private hospital. His story is by no means unique. There are an estimated 800 newly qualified doctors unemployed.

And yet the government is paying tens of millions of rands to employ Cuban doctors and pay Havana on top of that for the privilege of having them here.

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Some of those unemployed South African medics still have huge student loans to pay back, not having been afforded the luxury of support from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme.

It is no surprise that some of these young people will start looking abroad for greener pastures and, when they go, this country will lose more of its vital pool of skills.

Now, let’s consider the looming catastrophe which is the National Health Insurance, a potential looting pot for the ANC’s cadres, which will make Eskom look like a tea party by comparison.

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There’s plenty of money in government coffers, it seems, for things like nuclear power; foreign trips by the president and his deputy; rebuilding the National Assembly building… but not enough for doctors.

This country is sick… and it is clear what the cause is