DA calls on Deputy Health Minister to address the plights of South African student doctors in Cuba

5 February 2021

The Democratic Alliance (DA) calls on Deputy Health Minister, Dr Joe Phaahla to address the distressing outcry by South Africans studying medicine in Cuba.

South Africans who have been studying in Cuba have spoken out about the poor living conditions and inadequate allowances that have left them devoid of basic necessities, even for items such as sanitary pads.

The students, who depend on the Cuban government for food and accommodation, have shared pictures online illustrating the poor quality of food, which in the images is not even recognisable. Students have requested that the South African government assist in increasing their allowances so that they can afford private accommodation and at least buy their own nutritious food.

The Department of Health simply cannot allow these students to be stranded in a foreign country without their basic needs being met.

Deputy Minister Phaahla has an obligation to assist these students by engaging his Cuban counterparts and finding the appropriate means to assist these students. The South African government last year spent a staggering R400 million on the deployment of Cuban doctors to assist in our Covid fight, yet the government is failing to properly fund South African student doctors who are currently in Cuba.

The South African government must step up and support these students so that they can stay focused on their studies, as they are very much needed back home to assist us in the fight against Covid-19 and to capacitate, South Africa’s stretched health system.

Issued by Haseena Ismail, DA Member on the Portfolio Committee of Health, 5 February 2021