’R78 000 to R90 000 per month’: Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi reveals salaries of 14 Cuban doctors

Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi. File Picture: Itumeleng English/African News Agency(ANA)

Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi. File Picture: Itumeleng English/African News Agency(ANA)

Published Mar 4, 2022

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Pretoria – A response by Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi to Gauteng Legislature questions posed by the DA’s Jack Bloom this week revealed the provincial health department still has 14 Cuban doctors who are paid between R78 000 and R90 000.

“The Gauteng Health Department spent R30.3 million on Cuban doctors last year, and still employs 14 Cuban doctors who earn between R78 000 and R91 000 a month,” said Bloom, who is DA’s Gauteng health spokesperson.

Bloom’s assertions are supported by the written Legislature response signed off by Mokgethi on Monday. In the document seen by IOL, Mokgethi states that: “Salaries range from R78 247 for medical officer to R90 693 for a specialist per month”.

Bloom then asked Mokgethi to explain why the provincial government was “employing Cuban doctors when there are unemployed local doctors.

Mokgethi said: “Their employment was because of a government-to-government agreement entered into by South Africa in 1996. Cuba as a country is known for having the best health outcomes and their experience in prevention and health promotion would assist in strengthening the district health system.”

She added the Cuban doctors also served as “mentors and coaches” for doctors who are placed at primary health care facilities in Gauteng, especially the South African doctors trained in Cuba.

Mokgethi also highlighted that last year, the Gauteng health department paid R30 million to the Cuban brigade doctors.

Asked if the money was paid into the doctors’ personal accounts, Mokgethi agreed.

Bloom said there were originally 28 Cuban doctors who were hired in May 2020 for a one-year contract, which expired in May last year.

“It is disappointing that the department still employs 14 of them when local doctors are unemployed. I doubt whether they add expertise that is not available locally. Some of them do not speak English well and they are not familiar with local health conditions.

“Government money should be spent on South Africans rather than wasted on Cuban doctors and expensive Cuban medical training which is being probed for suspected corruption,” Bloom said.

Bloom added: “This misplaced loyalty to the despotic Cuban government is as immoral as the ANC’s inability to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

In June last year, the Gauteng Department of Health said it had incurred R32 million for the remuneration, accommodation and transportation of the Cuban medical doctors.

“The team of 28 was contracted for a year (between May 15, 2020 and May 30, 2021) and that has since come to an end. The department furthermore conveys its gratitude to health care workers who have been the real heroes of our response to the Covid-19 pandemic.”

At the time, the Gauteng health department said the members of the Cuban Medical Brigade were part of a diverse category of workers whose area of work included advisory, health data specialists, public health specialist, consulting with patients and total health care delivery.

IOL