Information for Current Medical Students

In order for Lesotho to combat the current HIV/AIDS epidemic, we are calling on medical students to consider Lesotho as a place to begin your career in medicine. The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the Lesotho-Boston Health Alliance worked together to determine the most effective strategic plan in transforming district health services in Lesotho. A key component to this transformation is the recruitment and retention of physicians to address the severe physician shortage, and begins with addressing the needs and concerns of Lesotho’s future doctors: medical students.

In past discussion groups with Basotho medical students from four South African medical schools, the main reasons cited for not returning to Lesotho were the absence of opportunities for training, inadequate salary and benefits, poor work environment, and frustration at not having received any form of communication from the Government during their time in school.

Steps have been taken to address these needs, and are in place for students to take advantage of. The MOHSW and the Lesotho-Boston Health Alliance are offering a high-quality post-graduate program beginning in January of 2008. The Family Medicine specialty training program will train six registrars each year and ensure that by the end of the four-year training program, graduates will have acquired the requisite knowledge and attitudes to be an effective district physician in Lesotho. A more detailed package including curriculum information is available by accessing the Specialty Training Program section of this website.

To encourage communication between medical students and with representatives from the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and physicians currently in practice in Lesotho, the following projects are also underway:

• Soon to be published medical student newsletter that is accessible electronically via website
• The organization of a medical student caucus that will enable students to meet with each other and MOHSW representatives during schools breaks (Information can be accessed through the Student Caucus section of this website)
• Direct communication with other medical students through the Student Blog section of this website
• Mentorship Opportunities with physicians currently in practice (Information can be accessed through the Looking for a Mentor? section of this website)

Lesotho’s goal is to offer a promising future for its physicians in order to assure high quality, sustainable health services for the country.