‘Medical Exceptionalism’ in International Migration: Should Doctors and Nurses Be Treated Differently?

In February 2004, the South African Medical Association organized a public protest complaining about working conditions that sparked the emigration abroad of 4,000 doctors over the past four years. ‘The most depressing thing is that, without exception, all the good people you train leave. All the friends from the old days are in private practice or abroad’ (Kapp, 2004).