Less than half of South African students sent to Cuba to study medicine complete their degree, it was reported.
Between 1997 and 2009 government had sent 624 students to the South American country to study medicine, Beeld reported.
In October 2011, Precious Matsoso, the director-general of health, said up till then only 257 of the students had qualified as doctors.
Six medical students from South Africa studying on scholarship in Cuba had reportedly returned home following a disagreement about their allowance, wasting over R2 million as a result.
The students were more than halfway through their six-year training programme, which cost the government R500,000 a student.
They decided to quit after going on strike about food and their monthly allowance of R1600, which they wanted increased to around R5600.
On Friday, health department spokesman Joe Maila said the department was saddened by the students' decision.
"Money was the main thing that they wanted, and we made it clear that we were not going to increase their stipend," he said.
"We are extremely disappointed, as we were doing everything for them. They are unreasonable because the issue of diet was not a big problem."
