Why do we have insufficient numbers of black doctors and nurses to fill vacant posts?

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Johan Beaurain

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In an article that appeared in the Sunday Times a government official admitted that they are unable to implement the equity policies of the government. The article is available online at:

http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=481544

I am quoting from the article:
“Dr Abdul Rahman, the chief operating officer of the Gauteng Health Department, said an employment equity policy existed in government but his department would not implement it.
“We are recruiting across the board and desperately trying to fill vacant posts ... We simply don’t have the doctors and nurses and therefore cannot implement such a policy.”
The Eastern Cape Health Department also said it could not afford such a policy.”

My question is: Why do we have insufficient numbers of black doctors and nurses to fill vacant posts?
 
Well medicine overall is a difficult field to begin with, and is also very expensive to study, and takes a long time (7yrs, well if our royal health minister had her way they would shorten it to 5 years).

And on the one side that is a good thing, because it weeds out the people who are not commited to becomming a doctor or taking people's lives in your hands
 
I would have say it is becuase of the lack of interest in Maths and Science at school level, thus there wont be a lot people to qualify to study Medicine. One other reason might be money, IMO it is well known that Doctors really make money in private practise, but before that there is that public service aspect to it.
 
Do black people lack the mental capacity?

Gothan said:
Well medicine overall is a difficult field to begin with, and is also very expensive to study, and takes a long time (7yrs, well if our royal health minister had her way they would shorten it to 5 years).

And on the one side that is a good thing, because it weeds out the people who are not commited to becomming a doctor or taking people's lives in your hands
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Are you saying that medicine is too difficult a field for black people to cope with?
 
Johan Beaurain said:
Are you saying that medicine is too difficult a field for black people to cope with?
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Nope, I know of a lot of white people also falling by the wayside when studying medicine. Its a tough field to study period. Race has nothing to do with it (I am sure I use the word people, unless you dont see blacks as people)
 
Maths and Science?

sox63 said:
I would have say it is becuase of the lack of interest in Maths and Science at school level, thus there wont be a lot people to qualify to study Medicine. One other reason might be money, IMO it is well known that Doctors really make money in private practise, but before that there is that public service aspect to it.
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Why do you need maths and science to become a doctor? My own experience is that when a doctor do not really know why you are feeling sick, they will tell you that it is a virus.

Do you think that is a scientific approach towards health?

You do not need maths or science to be able to do that.

I will admitt that those who develop the medical doctors will need mathematics. Maths will empower them to keep a count on whether they are developing sufficient numbers of doctors and nurses.
 
And also like I said, it takes a long time jus tto finish, then you have no experience what so ever, and you still need to do community service. So say its between 8 and 9 years.

If you finished your community service at the end of the year, and you go back 8 years it means you should have started studying in 98, 99.

Each year there will be more and more black doctors appearing on the scene, just give it time
 
I think Sox63 nailed in on the head. As a former teacher, I know how loath black pupils are to Maths and Science...This goes back to the lack of quality teachers in the disadvantaged areas
 
Johan Beaurain said:
Why do you need maths and science to become a doctor? My own experience is that when a doctor do not really know why you are feeling sick, they will tell you that it is a virus.

Do you think that is a scientific approach towards health?

You do not need maths or science to be able to do that.

I will admitt that those who develop the medical doctors will need mathematics. Maths will empower them to keep a count on whether they are developing sufficient numbers of doctors and nurses.
Click to expand...

If I'm not mistaken, you need Matric Maths and Science on Higher Grade if you want to get into Medicine School.

And dude you need to change Doctors:D If mine does not know what is wrong, they perform all these tests, that take ages, to try and figure out what is wrong.

Reminds me, what are 5 words you don't want to hear your doctor say?
A: What the **** is that!:D
 
sox63 said:
If I'm not mistaken, you need Matric Maths and Science on Higher Grade if you want to get into Medicine School.

And dude you need to change Doctors:D If mine does not know what is wrong, they perform all these tests, that take ages, to try and figure out what is wrong.

Reminds me, what are 5 words you don't want to hear your doctor say?
A: What the **** is that!:D
Click to expand...

Also not all doctors are GP's. For most part western medicine is an exact science.
 
Bageloo said:
I think Sox63 nailed in on the head. As a former teacher, I know how loath black pupils are to Maths and Science...This goes back to the lack of quality teachers in the disadvantaged areas
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Hell I'm white, and I feel with them. I loathed maths and science when I was in high school. Did take both till matric, but everyday was an uphill battle...now biology, that was a subject worth countless merrits
 
Bageloo said:
I know how loath black pupils are to Maths and Science...This goes back to the lack of quality teachers in the disadvantaged areas
Click to expand...

I think ideally you also need more equipment for science, labs etc. which isn't always available.
 
Syndyre said:
I think ideally you also need more equipment for science, labs etc. which isn't always available.
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yes that too...the only equipment we had for experiments was a couple of test tubes, light bulbs, some wire, steel wool and some Eveready batteries...:D:D
 
Bageloo said:
yes that too...the only equipment we had for experiments was a couple of test tubes, light bulbs, some wire, steel wool and some Eveready batteries...:D:D
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When I moved from Mafikeng to Bloem in High School to a "Model C" school, I was shocked to see equipment I had only read about!

Sooo, that's what a bunsen burner looks like!:D
 
Bageloo said:
I think Sox63 nailed in on the head. As a former teacher, I know how loath black pupils are to Maths and Science...This goes back to the lack of quality teachers in the disadvantaged areas
Click to expand...

I think the problem with maths and science in general (for both blacks & whites) is that you need to have a good foundation. If you aren't properly taught the basics in primary school, you'll struggle to overcome the handicap in high school.

My maths teacher in standard 3 saw that I was struggling with maths and she went to alot of effort to arrange for extra maths lessons for me. She also gave my parents advice on how to help me at home. I'm no mathematician, but thanks to her I managed a C in higher grade maths (in 1994) and now work as an engineer. I am forever grateful to her and other teachers like her.
 
I have to say, with science we hardly ever did any experiments at all, mostly formulas and calculations. All the equipment were standing there (or maybe cardboard cutouts of them, maybe the teacher pawned it all for his beer fund).

Or maybe he just thought it would be safer not to teach us the different ways you can blow things up, think maybe he did the world a favour there
 
orin76 said:
I think the problem with maths and science in general (for both blacks & whites) is that you need to have a good foundation. If you aren't properly taught the basics in primary school, you'll struggle to overcome the handicap in high school.

My maths teacher in standard 3 saw that I was struggling with maths and she went to alot of effort to arrange for extra maths lessons for me. She also gave my parents advice on how to help me at home. I'm no mathematician, but thanks to her I managed a C in higher grade maths (in 1994) and now work as an engineer. I am forever grateful to her and other teachers like her.
Click to expand...

Your lucky, my one maths teacher was this old lady...and boy did she smell something horrid, I was sitting in the back ina corner, and when she leaned over to look at your work.....allmost passed out!!

And when you asked her how she got to a certain conclusion, she would stare at you blankly, and say: "Its in the book"
 
Poor Foundation

Gothan said:
Your lucky, my one maths teacher was this old lady...and boy did she smell something horrid, I was sitting in the back ina corner, and when she leaned over to look at your work.....allmost passed out!!

And when you asked her how she got to a certain conclusion, she would stare at you blankly, and say: "Its in the book"
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Hell Gothan but you had it hard. How did you still manage to become a medical doctor with such a poor foundation in mathematics.
 
Johan Beaurain said:
Hell Gothan but you had it hard. How did you still manage to become a medical doctor with such a poor foundation in mathematics.
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Ag man that was easy....I did not become a doctor!! Tah-Daah!! Problem solved.


Always wanted to become a doctor, but I suffer from this medical condition called....terminal laziness. Did read up on it though, and half way through the requirements, I noticed my shoe laces where not tied....well kind of lost the thread there.

That is why I can understand that its tough in the medical field for a lot of people to make a success of it
 
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