18 May 2007
Senior representatives of the Tunisian Agency for Technical Co-operation are
in South Africa this week to inspect public health facilities with the aim of
assisting in recruiting Tunisian doctors to work in the underserved areas of
South Africa.
The delegation led by the Agency's Deputy Director General Habib Ben Mansour
visited Prince Mshiyeni and Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal on
Friday, 18 May 2007. KwaZulu-Natal is one of the provinces which are expected
to benefit from the initial phase of this recruitment drive together with
Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and Northern Cape.
The Tunisian Agency for Technical Co-operation has a pool of more than 2 000
health professionals that are available to work in countries that have
co-operation agreements with Tunisia. South Africa and Tunisia have an existing
co-operation agreement on health signed in 1999. The agreement was reaffirmed
during a visit by Health Minister, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang to Tunisia in
2004.
The delegation has received an extensive briefing on the conditions of
service for health professionals in South Africa which will also apply to the
potential recruits from Tunisia. South African remuneration packages were found
to be competitive.
The Tunisian delegation also visited facilities in Eastern Cape and Limpopo
and their week-long visit to South Africa will end with the signing of a
Protocol on the Recruitment of Tunisian Doctors to be signed between the
national Department of Health and the Tunisian Agency for Technical
Co-operation in Pretoria later today.
The recruitment of Tunisian doctors to South Africa will take the seven-year
relationship between the two countries in the area of health to a higher level.
Between the year 2000 to 2002, Tunisian ophthalmologists have visited SA to
perform eye operations. A total of 234 were performed in the year 2000, 260 in
2001 and 176 in 2002.
The two countries have again revived the ophthalmologist programme and are
looking into long-term plans to sustain the programme for the next three years.
In January this year, 171 eye operations were performed by Tunisian
ophthalmologists at Butterworth Hospital in Eastern Cape in January this
year.
These initiatives affirm the commitment of both countries to the South-South
development agenda and to further strengthen co-operation in other areas of
health. Recruitment of doctors from Tunisia is one of the short-term measures
being taken by the Department of Health to address the challenge of inadequate
supply of doctors while long-term solutions such as increasing training output
and improving skills retention within the public health sector are being
intensified.
Enquiries:
Sibani Mngadi
Spokesperson for the Ministry of Health
Cell: 082 772 0161
Issued by: Department of Health
18 May 2007
