To catch a doctor

South Africa is trying to recruit foreign doctors with a poster that features an elephant chasing a man and the slogan: "When you're done with the excitement of treating wet coughs in Wiltshire, work as a doctor in rural Africa." Africa Health Placements (AHP) hopes this recruitment will do to the Brits what they did to the South African healthcare system for the past six years. Over that period, the UK attracted healthcare professionals from all over the world. Now they are turning away foreign doctors. The poster is part of a marketing campaign to attract healthcare professionals from the UK, Australia and the United States. They also recruit locally. Over a period of three years, 598 health workers have been recruited to work in the public sector in rural South Africa. About 200 of these were foreign doctors. All are sent to rural hospitals and clinics, where they spend between a year and two years.