Brain drain in vital sector less than previously throught

A study by South Africa's Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) has shown that the country's brain drain may have been overestimated in the vital fields of research and development. "Flight of the Flamingos", a new report released this week by the HSRC, acknowledged that while South Africa experienced a net overall brain drain, the number of researchers and development workers had actually increased. "We do have a brain drain issue in South Africa, but then, so do many industrialised and developing countries. The circulation of knowledge is normal and necessary," Michael Kahn, leader of the HSRC team that produced the report, told IRIN. The study, based on interviews with 60 South African companies, found that although emigration figures for highly skilled researchers remained high, the greatest mobility of high-level skills was now within South Africa. "The research showed that workers in the science and technology field have not migrated to other countries in the huge numbers previously reported but, instead, have been lured by management or financial positions within South Africa," Kahn explained. The number of researchers arriving in South Africa from other developing countries, mainly Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania, was also increasing. Kahn conceded that the study did not investigate the flight of human capital from the health sector, which has been particularly hard hit by emigration. South Africa has lost scores of locally trained health professionals to the United Kingdom, and authorities have complained to the British government that urgent action must be taken to protect the South African public and private health services from foreign recruitment. "We did not look at the exodus of nurses or doctors, although that is definitely an area which needs to be investigated. We concentrated mainly on the researchers within the medical field," Kahn said. The report noted that Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) continued to underestimate the number of people leaving the country. According to the study, 30,513 people emigrated in 2001 - two-and-a-half times the 12,260 reported by Stats SA. "The country data is poor. Between Stats SA and the Department of Home Affairs there are discrepancies over how many people are leaving South Africa, and how many are actually immigrating into the country. Until there is a reliable system in place, which would verify the numbers, it is really still difficult to tell just what the current situation is regarding the brain drain issue," Kahn said. According to the report, many South Africans abroad will eventually return home. Even if they do not, they still have strong links with South Africa, which could be exploited to the benefit of the country.