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The DA welcomes assurances by the Walter Sisulu University (WSU) that they’ve had productive engagements with the Department of Health, who has assured the university that their Master of Medicine (MMed) degree specialisations would be accredited by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) and the Council of Higher Education (CHE). This means that registrars training to become specialists in anaesthesia, ear, nose, and throat (ENT), internal medicine, and ophthalmology will have their training accredited as prior learning and not have wasted years of their lives.

The DA will however be keeping a close eye on the process as the CHE had previously issued a statement in 2022 assuring the registrars that their degree specialisations were accredited when it was not the case.

With the current strain on the public health sector – particularly in the Eastern Cape – and the future decimation of the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill on both public and private health care, South Africa cannot afford to let our future specialists waste years of their lives on unaccredited programmes. They are crucial to healthcare provision and should not have to shoulder the extra burden of burocratic ineptitude.

Issued by Madeleine Hicklin MP - DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Health