Vital foreign-qualified doctors face xenophobia

Abstract

Foreign doctors, the backbone of South African rural healthcare delivery, are being ‘thrown in the deep end’ with little support, supplementary training or supervision, resulting in serious miscommunication and sometimes even xenophobia from healthcare colleagues who treat them as professionally inferior.

This emerged during a discussion at the 15th annual conference of the Rural Doctors Association of Southern Africa, RuDASA, entitled, ‘Foreign Qualified Doctors; an essential and globally mobile resource – Perspectives from healthcare workers and stakeholders in rural settings’. Held in the picturesque and historic mountain village of Rhodes in the Eastern Cape from 8th – 10th September, the conference attracted public sector doctors from across South Africa and neighbouring countries to focus on the theme; ‘Making Primary Health Care Better’.