President’s Nomination of Cuban Doctors a Slap in the Face of SA Healthcare Heroes
2 February 2021
During last night’s address President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed that the Cabinet had resolved to nominate the Cuban doctors, brought into South Africa, for the Nobel Peace Prize.
In doing so, President Ramaphosa managed to overlook the heroics of our South African healthcare workers who have served on the frontline of this pandemic at great personal cost.
It is already a stain on our country that 217 Cuban Doctors were deployed in South Africa at a cost of R400 million when South African doctors sat at home, unemployed by a government that has frozen an estimated 40 000 medical posts. To make matters worse, it is common knowledge that these Cuban doctors receive little of these funds, which are mostly directed toward the Cuban government.
Let us be very clear. If any recognition should be provided by our government, let it be for the frontline healthcare workers of our country who have risen early and slept late over the past year to save the lives of the people of our country. They have done so at great personal cost, with more than 400 estimated Covid-19 deaths in the public healthcare system alone and 43 000 Covid-19 infections of healthcare workers.