SA is the winner as local doctors stay put

Scores of medical professionals who were among the first post-democracy matriculants to graduate still practise in South Africa.

They were a special bunch back in 1994, being among the first matriculants of a democratic new South Africa. Six years later, 194 of them graduated as doctors at the University of the Witwatersrand.

South Africa is still home to most of those traced this week - 89 out of the 111 contacted .

The thought of leaving and earning top dollar abroad has never crossed Dr Rene Rosch's mind. The general practitioner, based at Medicross in Randburg, northwestern Johannesburg, said: "The opportunity to practis e medicine in South Africa is amazing.

"I am inspired by the exceptional people I consult with, like Suzanne Leyden, a teacher, who survived a horrible road rage incident in December that landed her in the intensive care unit at Milpark.

"She is typical of South Africans. They are resilient, courageous and have a unique sense of humour."

The doctors who have stayed in South Africa - 80% of those the Sunday Times traced - may be the exception to the norm, but they do defy the widely held belief that doctors are leaving the country in droves.

Many among the Wits class of 2000 have opted to remain in public service because they believed they had a "valuable contribution" to make to the state health system.

They include Dr Janieke van Nugteren, an anaesthetist working at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town; Dr Erica Shaddock, a specialist physician at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital; and Dr Ruvashni Naidoo, a general surgeon at King Edward Hospital in Durban.

Doctors contacted by the Sunday Times were able to identify about 22 of their classmates who are working abroad, in the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

Van Nugteren, who worked at Charing Cross Hospital in London for six months in 2003, said she chose to return because she loves South Africa .

"I worked overseas and it wasn't all that I expected it to be. I was disillusioned by medicine in the UK.

"I never intended to live there; I went simply to pay off my student debt."

She said she had "something valuable to add to the state system".

Naidoo said she was "optimistic" about the country's future and "liked the idea of being part of its progress".

"Surgery often offers a quick, permanent fix to a patient's complaints, which makes it an extremely gratifying career. "

The Sunday Times was initially able to trace some of the doctors after Wits's alumni relations office circulated a message calling on the class of 2000 to contact the newspaper.

A doctor now living in Australia, Dr Mike Harris, who graduated from Wits in 2003, sent an e-mail expressing an interest in being part of the story.

Dr Melinda Suchard, who heads the centre for vaccines and immunology at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in Gauteng, said doctors opted to stay in South Africa because the medical training was excellent.

"Home is home. Things would have to be really bad for me to leave the country," she said.

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Professor Peter Beale, a paediatric surgeon in private practice, said it was "very gratifying" that such a high number of these Wits doctors had opted to remain in the country.

"The opportunity for clinical experience in this country is there. In my career I've had opportunities [in my speciality] unequalled to anybody anywhere on the planet."

Dr Mark Sonderup, deputy chairman of the South African Medical Association, said he found it equally encouraging that so many of the class of 2000 from Wits were still home.

However, he cautioned against "overinterpreting" the figures.

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"With the human resource constraints we have, we can't afford to lose one doctor."

And, he said, the days of doctors just flying off to the UK, Australia or Canada and setting up shop with a South African qualification were gone.

"In the past decade, countries have significantly tightened up on their registration requirements for foreign graduates. Certainly, the ease of access has become far more difficult."

He said the South African government had also in the past decade formally requested countries such as the UK to stop poaching local doctors.

Wits vice-chancellor Professor Adam Habib said the fact that doctors produced by his institution were staying in the country was a good sign.

"In recent years I've noticed quite a number of our students who do remain in our country and provide a service to the nation."

Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi said the figures showed that not all the country's doctors were "fleeing in droves".

Motsoaledi said that when he attended his 30-year reunion at what had been the University of Natal, he found most of his classmates from 32 years ago were still practising in South Africa.

sub_head_start Seeing a baby get better pure bliss sub_head_end

When Dr Lerusha Naidoo sees an infant showing signs of recovery in the intensive care unit at Durban's Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital, her face lights up with joy.

Naidoo, 38, is one of nine neonatologists in KwaZulu-Natal. Her job is to provide care to ill and premature newborn infants.

"Paediatrics is an especially rewarding sub-speciality. The feeling of seeing a sick baby get better is indescribable.

"I like the intensive care environment. It's dynamic and unpredictable," she said.

Naidoo was one of the 194 doctors who graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand's medical school in 2000.

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Besides her medical degree, her qualifications include a diploma in child health, a fellowship in paediatrics and a certificate in neonatology.

She turned her back on job offers from the private sector because her heart was set on working at a hospital."I also had offers from other state institutions where I would have had a more senior post, but I chose to remain here because the privilege of working in this unit outweighs the monetary gains."

She said figures showing that Wits graduates had opted to remain in the country had left her feeling very optimistic.

She worked as a junior doctor in St Albans in the UK in 2003, but had no intention of staying there.

"I went for the experience of being abroad and travelling. I prefer being in South Africa.

"My family is here and the lifestyle is different."

She said there was a need for more neonatologists, but funding was a problem.

"Maternal and newborn health is one of the government's priorities and we do need neonatologists to take care of newborns," she said.

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Impressive medical record

Of those traced, the Wits class of 2000 produced, among others, 15 general practitioners; four psychiatrists; five plastic surgeons; three obstetricians; a gynaecologist; three ear, nose and throat specialists; a urologist; and two haematologists. There are also seven orthopaedic surgeons, eight anaesthetists, a microbiologist, an endocrinologist, five specialist physicians, three pathologists, four radiologists and two cardiologists.

They are all practising in South Africa today.

govenderp@sundaytimes.co.za