South Africa rushes supplies to trainees

Published Thursday, March 26, 1998, in the Miami Herald

South Africa rushes supplies to trainees

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- (AFP) -- South African trainee doctors in Cuba have been sent 860 condoms after nine of them wrote home to say they feared contracting AIDS, it was reported Wednesday.

Candith Mashego, health minister of eastern Mpumalanga province, told the SAPA news agency that another 430 condoms would soon be sent to South African student doctors in Havana.

``These people have already been there for more than a year now and are obviously making good friends with the locals, so we understand their concerns,'' said Mashego.

The students are currently receiving free university medical training in Cuba. They will return to Mpumalanga to become rural-based doctors.