DUMISANE LUBISI, Pietersburg | Friday
NORTHERN Province has selected 23 impoverished youths who leave for Cuba on Monday to train as doctors for the next six years.
The youths, who come from poor rural families, responded to a provincial health department advert in March that sought matriculants who wanted to study medicine.
Over 1 000 applications were sent to the department and selection was not easy, said departmental deputy director of nursing services Johanna Mojapelo.
“The selection criteria was clear that we were only looking for rural youths from poor families and who had good academic records,” said. Mojapelo.
It was especially important that the applicants had good mathematics and biology marks.
She said many applicants were either sitting at home doing nothing because they couldn’t find work and couldn’t afford to study further, or they were studying computer courses.
The 23 successful applicants will be given a farewell party by the welfare department on Friday.
When they return to South Africa, they will be deployed to rural hospitals in the province and be required to serve the provincial government for two years.
The department selected 11 students in 1999 to study medicine in Cuba. – African Eye News Service