News24 reports that Deputy Minister of Health Mathume Phaahla announced on Tuesday that South African medical students who studied abroad would now be allowed to write the Health Professions Council of SA’s (HPCSA’s) board exam.  

This came after the HPCSA decided this year to enforce a 2009 regulation that would force South Africans who studied medicine abroad to do their internship in the land where they studied, before they would be allowed to take the board exam.  Some prospective doctors had received letters saying that they would be allowed to take the exam in May, only for permission to be rescinded in February.  A court battle loomed.  Speaking in a debate in the National Assembly called by IFP MP Narend Singh, Phaahla agreed with Singh that the HPCSA's decision had serious implications.  He said that those students already approved for the board exam would take it in May and the Department of Health would work with the HPCSA to find a long-term solution.  The HPCSA's enforcement of the regulation was condemned across party lines.

• Read this report by Jan Gerber in full at News24

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