Recruiting foreign doctors to South Africa: difficulties and dilemmas

In 2003, the Medical and Dental Professional Board of the Health Professions Council of South Africa again made it possible for foreign-qualified doctors to obtain registration without sitting an examination. This eased the way for eligible non-South African doctors to work in South Africa in order to assist with the current staffing crisis in rural hospitals. This personal view examines the issues and difficulties related to foreign-trained doctors practising in South Africa, such as short-term practice vs long-term commitment; strategies to promote preparation of local doctors for rural hospital practice; the loss of recruited doctors to third-party countries; the principle of distributive justice in international medical training; and defining acceptable standards of training. The conclusions reached are that while doctors from developing countries, especially from neighbouring African nations, have historically brought a wealth of practical experience to South Africa's rural hospitals, there are also mutual benefits in recruiting from doctors trained in developed countries. The guiding principle is to obtain well-trained and experienced doctors who are able to function in a rural hospital until there are sufficient local-trained doctors. While the article focuses specifically on medical staffing in rural South Africa, the principles discussed apply equally to other health-care professionals and other, similar countries.