Issued by Department of Health
3 March 2008
South African Health Minister, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has urged global community to consider reparation for migration of health workers from Africa to developed countries.
Minister Tshabalala-Msimang was speaking in her capacity as the chairperson of the African Union Ministers of Health during the official opening of the first Global Forum on Human Resources for Health in Kampala, Uganda today.
The Forum is convened by the Global Health Workforce Alliance under the auspices of the World Health Organisation and is attended by about a thousand participants, including government leaders, health, development, civil society, academic and health professional leaders from around the world.
Minister Tshabalala-Msimang said whilst individual rights to freedom including the freedom of movement are acknowledged, developed countries should be restricted by ethics in the recruitment of health workers from countries with severe human resource challenges.
"We believe that a mutually beneficial formula to train and distribute health human resources can and needs to be explored. Our view as Africa is that receiving countries should consider reparations for the countries of origin that trained the heath workers.
"This should be done through initiatives aimed at strengthening the health systems of countries of origin, guided by the priorities of the affected country. However, this investment in countries of origin should not be viewed as a blanket approval for continued unethical recruitment practices," said Tshabalala-Msimang.
She said it was disturbing that while Africa continues to strengthen education and training of its prospective health professionals, the recruitment of these prized assets of the continent's health systems to developed and better resourced settings continues unabated in many African countries.
"This Global Forum should come out with a commitment from the developed countries to development of their own human resource plans that do not undermine the health systems of other countries," said Minister Tshabalala-Msimang.
She called for solidarity and cooperation amongst developing countries in addressing the human resource challenges affecting them. "We pledged as South Africa not to recruit from other African countries that have human resource challenges. This is a principled decision that was taken in order to avoid worsening each others situation," she said.
South Africa recruits through government to government agreements and currently has doctors from Cuba, Iran and Tunisia that work in the country through this arrangement. "These are structured and mutually agreed recruitment initiatives that are guided by the spirit of South-South cooperation," said Tshabalala-Msimang.
Sibani Mngadi
Media Liaison Officer
Ministry of Health
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