Programme director
Head of the Department, Dr Lydia Sebego
Executive Managers and employees of the Department of Health and Social Development
Parents of our students
Our prospective medical students
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Dumelang Bagaetsho!
E setse e le setlwaedi go re ngwaga o mongwe le o mongwe fa nako e tsamaya fano, re amogela setlhopha se seshwa sa baithuti bao lefapha le ba isang kwa Cuba go ya go ithutela bongaka. Thulaganyo e ke karolo ya lenaneo leo puso ya rona bosetshaba e saleng e le simolotse ka ngwaga wa 1998 ka maitlhomo a go fokotsa tlhokego ya dingaka mo nageng segolo jang mo metse selegaeng. Go itumedisa thata go rona jaaka lefapha go itse go re lenaneo le, le ntse le diragatsa sentle fa e sa le ka 1998 ka gore fa e sa le go tloga ka nako eo, re setse re alusitse bathuti ba feta 116. Re kopana Fano gompieno ka maitlhomo a go oketsa palo e gonne rotlhe re dumalana go re tlhokego ya dingaka mo metse-selegaeng e sa ntse e le "tlhoba boroko". Re santse re tshwanela go dira go le gontsi go netefatsa fa re na le dingaka tse di lekana morwalo wa ditirelo tsa boitekanelo porofense ka bophara.
Ka jalo, ke tsaya tshono eno go amogela bana ba rona ba re leng fano ka bona. Lo amogetswe mo lenaneo thutong la lefapha la "South African–Cuban Medical programme". Ke boa gape ke tsaya tshono eno go ba bulelela tsela, go ba eletsa masego mo loetong lwa bona le go ba akgola go re ba bo ba diragaditse bontle go ba kgontsha go bona phitlhelelo e.
Programme director, allow me to just emphasise at this stage the importance of this programme so that our students may leave here with a clear understanding of what is at stake. Yes, we have called you here to bid you farewell and to wish you well but also to tell you that the country and the province is investing in you because we have over the years experienced a dire need and shortage of health professionals. Government has invested a lot to address the broader challenge of human resource in health.
We continue to see steady progress in addressing related challenges of scares skills and training of health professionals. One of the initiatives that government started to address this challenge was to attract health professionals from other countries on a sound diplomatic bilateral relations approach. And just to give a brief background to this programme, in 1995, our government therefore signed a Government-to-Government Agreement with the Republic of Cuba with the primary purpose of:
- recruiting Cuban doctors to serve underserved and rural areas of South Africa
- developing adequate health services in hospitals and institutions
- training and encouraging local doctors and medical doctors in particular to work in those areas.
In 1997 the Government-to-Government Agreement between South Africa and Cuba was then amended and an extension of collaboration to send South African medical students to Cuba was incorporated. Another addition to the agreement came in 2001 in the form of an agreement for cooperation in the field of health in the following:
- Health research
- Academic cooperation
- Health policy and programmes
- Biotechnology
- Vaccine production
- Pharmaceutical development
- Exchange programmes on health research, specialists and medical technology
At the inception of the programme, it was envisaged that the students would complete their seven years of medical training in Cuba. However in October 2001 the Memorandum of Understanding was reviewed and endorsed by the current Minister of Health. The reviewed Memorandum of Understanding stated that our students will only train up to their fifth year of medical studies and be deployed in local universities to complete their medical studies.
The revised Agreement sought to address issues relating to:
- Familiarisation of Cuban trained students with our country's health system; the disease profile and our trauma workloads.
- The revised agreement also allowed for registration of Cuban trained medical students with the Health Professionals Council of SA (HPCSA), so that they may not be regarded as foreign qualified students.
The North West Department of Health has been participating in the recruitment of local students to study medicine in Cuba since 1998. In 2003 recruitment focused on Medical Technology after an audit conducted by Medical Research Council (MRC) of South Africa identified a need in this area. We therefore followed the guide provided by the MRC and proceeded to find ways of strengthening health technology management. This is a highly specialised area and I hope the ten students that we have identified will take it seriously and not disappoint.
It is therefore important that students conduct themselves in a way that shows commitment to the programme. Once you have decided to enrol in this programme, it means you must be willing to sacrifice some of the things you are used to. You are going into a foreign environment and your ability to adapt quickly will serve you well. You must see this opportunity as an investment of your time and energy and understand that there will be time to reap the reward. Its common knowledge that we all reap what we sow.
Ke solofela gore batsadi ba lona le bona ba tla tsaya maikarabelo a go lo laya le go lo simega sentle pele ga lo tsena mo loetong le. Mme maikarabelo otlhe a mo go lona. A re seka ra utlwa sepe seo se tlhabisang ditlhong. Go botlhokwa go itse go re fa lo kopane le baditshaba, lo emetse morafe otlhe wa Aforika Borwa.
I wish you all success and the best in everything on your journey.
I thank you!
