30 years on, is Cuba-SA doctor training still worth it?

The Nelson Mandela-Fidel Castro medical training programme has been controversial from the start. It had high points, low points, and now many say it should have an end point, writes Ufrieda Ho for the Spotlight in an Op Ed.

Almost 30 years since the Cuba-SA doctors’ training programme was launched, it still divides opinion. This year only Gauteng and the North West interviewed candidates for the bursary programme that sends students from South Africa to be trained in the island country. Critics say the dwindling interest shows the Nelson Mandela-Fidel Castro medical training programme has passed its sell-by date. But supporters remain committed to its ideals, and some beneficiaries of the programme still think of it as the opportunity of a lifetime.

Between the differing views, what can be glimpsed is a checkered story of three decades of trying to transform South Africa’s healthcare system.
Full report on the Spotlight site