• O J Ransome and H Roode.
• S. Afr. Med. J. 1983 Dec 10; 64 (25): 983-7.

AbstractA survey of all paediatricians registered with the South African Medical and Dental Council in July 1981 was conducted and the results were correlated with the child population as determined by the 1980 census. There were 201 active paediatricians, of whom 55% were employed in hospitals and 45% in private practice; 83% were resident in areas in which there were teaching hospitals, while only 23% of the total number of children resided in these areas. Sixty per cent of the children (95% of whom were Black) lived in predominantly rural areas where there were no paediatricians. The number of paediatricians in South Africa is expected to rise rapidly during the next 2 decades. We are therefore faced with the problem of having a paediatrician corps which although adequate in number is badly distributed, resulting in the rural population being grossly under-serviced. Possible solutions are presented.

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