Apartheid and Medical Education: The Training of Black Doctors in South Africa

Abstract

An analysis is presented of the numbers of medical students in South African medical schools and of medical graduates produced annually. The data are analyzed according to ethnic groups. It is shown that gross discrepancies exist, and that black (African) and “Colored” sectors of the population are seriously underrepresented. This pattern is found for the total number of medical students; the ratio of number of medical students in each ethnic group to the total population of that group; the number of medical schools to which blacks may, in terms of the government's apartheid policy, be freely admitted; the absolute numbers of medical graduates drawn from each ethnic group and the percentage of the total number of medical practitioners stemming from each population group; and the ratio of the numbers of medical graduates in each ethnic group to the total population of that group. No matter which yardstick is employed, marked discrepancies are apparent. It is maintained that the separate and inferior schooling system for blacks, under the apartheid policy, is not providing suitably qualified medical student material from the African and “Colored” population groups; and that the State (under which all South African medical schools fall) has not permitted existing medical school facilities to be freely opened for the medical training of blacks, nor has it made available sufficient facilities for the medical training of blacks. It is concluded that the apartheid policy, with its many ramifications at primary, secondary, and tertiary educational levels, has constituted the most serious setback to medical education in southern Africa. It has left medical education in southern Africa over 30 years behind a point where it could and should have been.

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