Many of the early graduates of the SA-Cuba medical training programme now hold senior leadership positions in the country's health sector. (Bhekisisa/Supplied) Mzulungile Nodikida, Sanele Madela, Bongile Mabilane, Nhlakanipho Gumede and Godisamang Kegakilwe have one thing in common: They studied medicine in Cuba. Since its establishment in 1996, the Cuba-South Africa medical programme has been knocked for being impractical, too expensive, and for producing inferior doctors.
But today, these five doctors all occupy senior leadership positions in the health sector. There was an obscure significance to Mzulungile Nodikida's appointment as CEO of the South African Medical Association (SAMA) in January this year, and it derives from Nodikida being a product of the South African government's Cuba medical training programme , sometimes called the Nelson Mandela-Fidel Castro Collaboration. Since its establishment in 1996, the programme has been knocked for being impractical, too expensive and for producing inferior doctors.
In a 2013 South African Medical Journal article, SAMA's then-vice-chairperson Mark Sonderup was quoted as saying: "[E]verybody agrees we need more doctors, but is this the best we can do?" Nodikida now leads SAMA , and he isn't the only Cuba graduate who has accessed power and influence in South Africa's healthcare sector. "There are a few of us, mostly early graduates, which isn't surprising because we've had time to accumulate experience. In a few years our juni.