July 19 2007 at 08:40AM
By Barry Bateman
A dozen Mpumalanga medical students face being stranded in Cuba because
their province's health department failed to pay for their airline
tickets home.
The 12 students, among 150 South Africans studying in Cuba, have not
seen South African soil since they left to study medicine two years ago.
Representing the students at the Cienfuegos Medical School, Africa
Manzini said it was their biennial vacation after finishing their June
exams and they were scheduled to fly home this Saturday. "All the other
provinces have paid for their students. It's just us here and we don't
know what the problem is," he said.
Manzini said a flight booked for two students scheduled to fly out of
Havana last Saturday was cancelled because the department failed to
cough up. Now they fear their flight will be cancelled too.
"The two students who lost their flight have been put on a waiting list
because the airline is fully booked.
"They need to arrange flights with another airline," he said.
Manzini said that the South African Embassy in Havana offered to pay for
their flights if the department contacted them and made assurances that
the amount would be settled.
Mpumalanga health department spokesperson Mpho Gabashane said the flight
booked for Saturday would be paid for and the students could come home.
The two who missed the earlier flight would be catered for on Saturday's
flight, he said.
Africa's mother Thelma said she missed her son who she last saw in 2005.
"I want him home, I want to see Africa. The health department must pay
for their tickets because they only have holidays in the month of
August," she said.
Africa is her only child.
A doctor who graduated from the programme said they spent a total of
seven years in Cuba studying for their basic medical degree.
He said the first year was spent learning Spanish before they were
integrated into the medical schools and only visited South Africa for a
month-long holiday every second year.
No comments:
Post a Comment