DOCTORS EXIT

The Calgary Herald recently carried an a feature article "Alberta bound: Why South African doctors are coming to Canada". According to Dr. Kgosi Letlape, chairman of the South African Medical Association, only half of the physicians trained in South Africa during the past 10 years are still registered to practise here. Many South African doctors are to be found in small-town Canada where clinics and hospitals, particularly on the Prairies, gladly accept them. Canada has a doctor shortage, especially in rural Canada. Small towns often offer incentive packages worth more than $50,000. About 2,100 South African-trained physicians now practise medicine in Canada, a quarter of them work in Alberta. A 26-year-old doctor, working at Cape Town's Red Cross Children's Hospital, takes home about $3,300 Cdn a month after taxes - after long days and unpaid hours of overtime. He's leaving for Canada where he could easily earn $8,000 a month. On top of that, he's getting a $10,000 relocation allowance and a $10,000 signing bonus. A provincial programme adds another $15,000 to $20,000 if he remains in the community for longer than nine months. The competition in Alberta for South African doctors is so intense that bidding wars have erupted between communities, with cars, homes and interest-free loans on offer.