What steps does his department intend to take to meet the demand for doctors in the health care system, given that the number of graduating doctors at government-run medical schools has only marginally increased from an estimated 1 200 to 1 800 per annum since the 1970s, while the population has more than doubled during the same period?
The number of students enrolling in medicine schools was increased in 2012 at local medical schools which is set to increase production to 2 200 graduates in 2021. This has been augmented with students who are participating in the Nelson Mandela Fidel Castor programme which has increased to 716 per annum returning to do their final year of medicine in South Africa in 2018 and then increasing to 808 in 2019. Together these streams of production mean that we are preparing for 3 188 medical interns in 2022 more than the numbers cited for the 70s.