One has to remark: How lucky they are to get free medical training.

The students, according to health spokesman Joe Maila, want the extra money to party and buy goodies - their protest has nothing to do with the food.

What I want to ask Maila is how well these students are doing in their training, especially as their lessons are conducted in Spanish.

Any adult who has tried to learn a new language will tell you it is not easy.

How does one study an already difficult course like medicine in a foreign language and in a foreign country?

How many of these students drop out?

Are they given free medical training so that when they come back, they will work in the rural areas?

How good are these doctors when they are let loose on the general public?

I see the department of health spends approximately R500000 on each of these students.

That is a lot of money if they are, in fact, not coming out of the system with flying colours.