PAIN OF TAIWAN-TRAINED DOCTORS

Sir,

I was shocked, over the past few weeks, to learn of the plight of Taiwan-trained doctors, who have been subjected to so much pain and discrimination at the hands of the Ministry of Health.

Upon graduating in Taiwan in June 2018, as per standard procedure, they were supposed to come back home to Eswatini and serve a 2-year internship.

This was not the case for them. Despite being promised posts at their first meeting with the deputy director of Health Services, things changed for the worst when they followed up, only to be told preferences were being given to those trained in commonwealth countries, and they were not entitled to posts. They found themselves having to fight just to do an internship. As a result, they stayed for more than a year at home.

Posts

Surprisingly, other graduates from other countries other than Taiwan, and those who came way after them, got posts, while they were languishing at home. This makes one wonder whether anyone deserves such harsh treatment, more so from the same ministry which ought to advocate for fairness among its doctors.

Careers

At a certain point, their careers were threatened when a certain discriminatory programme, ‘student internship’, was imposed on them. Reliable sources revealed that they eventually started their internship in July 2019, on a pro-bono basis, with the hope that once posts were opened, they too would be considered. To date, they still have not been given posts, despite earlier promises that there would be fairness.

They do not even have any formal documentation that attaches them to the ministry, though as interns they work like everybody else, do on-calls, long hours with no motivation except their determination to become medical officers. This is not fair!

One wonders whether the minister is aware of all this. As far as I am concerned, they went to school as a result of an agreement between the Kingdom of Eswatini and the Republic of China (Taiwan). Why are they suffering as if they sent themselves?

It is my prayer and dream to see an end to this injustice. No one deserves such treatment, and I plead with the minister and the PM to do something about this.

Concerned Citizen

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