News24 reports that the Gauteng Department of Health (DOH) paid 28 Cuban doctors a whopping R32.5 million for a year of services in the province during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The payment included money for remuneration, accommodation and transport. Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi disclosed the amount in a response to questions from the Democratic Alliance (DA). But the DA slammed the department for the "wasteful and misdirected spending". It claimed the amount was taken from an HIV/Aids grant and described the move as "irregular". The DA's health spokesperson in Gauteng, Jack Bloom stated: "It's a specific grant for HIV/AIDS, so it should have been used exclusively to assist HIV-positive patients to cope with the epidemic, such as helping them to get their ARV medicines without risky queues." The DA said it was absurd that the doctors' one-year salaries ranged from R858,000 for a biostatistician to R1.58 million for a specialised medical doctor. The party claimed that there was no local need for the doctors. The DOH said the Cuban medical experts helped the provincial government in a number of areas, including in an advisory capacity, as health data and public health specialists, and with patient consultations and total healthcare delivery.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Pule Letshwiti-Jones at News24

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