The first intake of 23 students to be trained as clinical associates, healthworkers ranked between a nurse and doctor, started at Walter Sisulu University in January this year.
It is hoped that the clinical associates will lessen the burden facing critically understaffed hospitals and clinics.
The health department has secured funding from the World Health Organisation, the United States Centres for Disease Control, the British government and the European Union to train the 23 students.
Another 76 students are expected to be enrolled at the universities of the Witwatersrand, Pretoria and Limpopo as soon as the health department has finalized funding.
The department has offered bursaries to each of the students covering tuition fees, monthly stipends and student books.
Health minister Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said the department was also committed to financing ‘infrastructural renovations’ that should be required to implement the programme at district level.
Speaking in Gugulethu on the eve of her budget speech, the minister said the lack of human resources had continuously hindered the department’s ability to provide accessible and quality healthcare. ‘ Health-e News Service
