MEDICINE SCHOLARSHIP NO LONGER PRIORITY

MBABANE - If you are a student aspiring to study medicine, be informed that chances of getting a government scholarship are slim.

This was confirmed by the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Thulani Mkhaliphi, in an interview yesterday. Mkhaliphi was sought for clarity following a concern raised by some aspiring medicine students, who visited the ministry seeking scholarships. The students shared with this publication that the ministry warned them against flocking the medicine course as government was not prioritising the programme this year. “The medicine programme was highlighted in this year’s priority list and the explanation we got was that it has been removed from the priority programmes.  We were told that we should be prepared to pay should we wish to enrol for medicine,” said one of the aspiring students.

Confirmed

Asked about the concerns raised by the students, Mkhaliphi confirmed that the medicine course had been highlighted on the priority list. However, he stated that highlighting the programme did not mean government had completely removed the course as a priority. “By highlighting the programme, we were trying to explain that the validity expired in 2020.
As a result, government has engaged a consultant, who is currently looking at all skills in the market. Government will be using the outcomes of the study in awarding scholarships this year,” he said.

Mkhaliphi stated that the ministry was trying to explain to the students that government would be considering job opportunities for every course when awarding scholarships. “Government will not award scholarships where chances of employment are very slim. We have many medicine students who are queuing for internships in the country’s facilities. A recent study has shown that there were about 60 medicine students queuing for internships in the country. This number adds to the about 100 medicine students, who are currently on training,” he said. He added that he was signing medicine scholarships when called yesterday.  

He said there was a need to clean the system to make sure that medicine students got internships and employment as soon as they completed the course.

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