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Medical Volunteer in South Africa!
Are you a medical student or working in the medical field and want to gain valuable medical experience abroad? Do you dream of touring the beautiful city of Cape Town, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Africa? If you answered yes, then this medical volunteer opportunity in South Africa is for you.
South Africa is a beautiful country set in the Southern tip of Africa. It is world-famous for its wide selection of wines and one of the most elaborate winery tours in the world.
From Cape Town’s Table Mountain to white beaches in Durban and the famous Kruger National Park there is just so much to explore.
South Africa medical program will be an excellent opportunity to explore the field of medicine and gain valuable experience for you. As a healthcare volunteer, you will work alongside medical professionals and build meaningful relationships with the locals and fellow volunteers.
Become a medical volunteer in South Africa and help save lives and improve access to health care to poor communities for a fulfilling experience. If you want to change the communities and save lives for a better world, contact GCR for this incredible opportunity today.
Volunteer Responsibilities & Impacts
You will be working in clinics and hospitals alongside the local doctors and nurses. Volunteering hours will be Monday-Friday from 08:00 – 15:00, depending on the needs of the specific medical facility. You will help with wound dressing, taking blood pressure, pulse, and temperature measurements.
Besides, assisting patients from one service point to another, weighing patients, and working with local awareness programs, etc. will be your other responsibilities during your medical volunteer program in South Africa. Due to inherent risk involved and medical regulations, you cannot treat patients or become involved in surgery during the project.
Medical program in South Africa is very meaningful. While working in the project, you get a good chance to learn about a new and different health treatment system that exists in South Africa. This will help you gain practical hands on experience and understand about the health practices followed in South Africa. It will be an eye-opening experience that will boost your medical experience.
Skills and Qualifications
It is highly recommended that you have certification or proof of experience in a medical field. You must also be passionate about helping people in need, to join this medical volunteering opportunity in South Africa. Additionally, it is important that you also exhibit patience and empathy when dealing with the patients.
Minimum volunteer age is 18 years.
While in South Africa, your days will be incredibly exciting with new experiences. You’ll have new opportunities everyday to share your love, skills and passion for sick people and make a difference of peoples lives in South Africa.
In South Africa we work with different clinics and hospitals each with its own needs, tasks and program, there is no fixed schedule for each day, but be prepared to help at all time in many exciting tasks and activities.
Here is a sample daily schedule:
First Day: On your first day of South Africa medical volunteering program, you will be accompanied to the hospital by a local coordinator and introduced to the medical staff you will be working with. During the day you will get to familiarize yourself with the facilities, staff and your duties at the hospital.
- Weekdays: A typical weekday will look something like this:
- 7.00 to 7.30 AM: : Start your day bright and happy with a delicious South African breakfast.
- 7.45 AM: After breakfast you will set out to leave for the hospital for a day filled with many exciting activities including assisting patients and administrative work.
- 12.00 PM: At noon lunch is served and you can have lunch with your new colleagues or fellow volunteers as you share experiences.
- 3.00 PM: Work officially ends around this time, and you have the rest of the day to explore the local community around you.
- 6.45 PM: A delicious dinner will be shared with your host family as you get to learn more about their culture and about each other.
Medical Volunteer in South Africa: Dates and Fees
Dates: Volunteer in South Africa
All volunteer programs in South Africa start every Monday of each month. However, if there is travel constrains, you can start any project on any day.
Fees: Volunteer in South Africa
Global Crossroad is committed to offering the most affordable and highest quality volunteering work in South Africa . We strive to keep our costs low. The humanitarian side of the business is our passion.
Global Crossroad's volunteer program in South Africa application and registration fee cost US $299. The application fee covers the cost of advertising, program promotion, and office expenses (rent, utilities, and staff salaries in USA office).
In addition to the application fee, you are required to pay a weekly program fee . You will pay your weekly fee directly to the country coordinator, who in turn will allocate it to your host family, project and other in-country support we offer to our volunteers. This way, the fees that you pay will benefit those who rightfully deserve them, and not for company profit.
| Duration | Medical |
|---|---|
| 1 Week | $300 |
| 2 Weeks | $450 |
| 3 Weeks | $600 |
| 4 Weeks | $750 |
| 5 Weeks | $900 |
| 6 Weeks | $1.050 |
| 7 Weeks | $1,200 |
| 8 Weeks | $1,400 |
| 9 Weeks | $1,550 |
| 10 Weeks | $1,750 |
| 11 Weeks | $1,900 |
| 12 Weeks | $2,050 |
Comprehensive Travel Insurance $3.49/day ( below 28 years) and $4.49/day ( above 28 years) »
How your fee is allocated?
Program fees cover:
- Accommodation (volunteer house or host family)
- Food (local food 2 times a day)
- Airport pick up
- Program Orientation
- In-country support
- Personalized project
- Pre-departure information
- Certificate of completion
- Fundraising ideas and letters
- Discount for returning volunteers
Program fees exclude:
- Visas
- Airfare
- Personal expenses on soft drinks and foods
- Daily transportation
- Airport return transfer
The volunteering trips in South Africa program fees will cover expenses that will begin on the first day of the program (usually the first or third Monday of the month) to the last day of the program. If you arrive before the first day of the program or you decide you stay beyond your program’s last day, you will be responsible for the additional expenses, which would typically be around $30 a day for room and meals at a hostel.
Accommodation and Meal
When you volunteer in medical program in South Africa you will stay at our volunteer house. You will be provided with a safe and comfortable shared room, with facilities including western toilets, running water and electricity. Additionally, you will receive two healthy local home-cooked meals (breakfast and dinner) per day.
Read more about your meals and accommodation while in South Africa
Free Time and Weekend Exploration
In South Africa you will be able to work and tour the country. You will volunteer from Monday to Friday for only 4-5 hours a day, leaving you plenty of time to discover the local area. Over the weekend, you will have two days to go on excursions and tours around the country, you will be able to take a trip the national parks or take an exclusive wine tour.
Safety and In Country Support
GCR has successfully and safely hosted thousands of volunteers since 2003 without a single major safety issue. We always make sure that our volunteers are safe and secure while in South Africa. You can expect support from our in-country coordinator while working in our projects, which are reevaluated every year to guarantee your safety.
Read more about our extensive safety support in South Africa.
Medical Volunteer in South Africa: FAQs
Arrival and Departure
You will need to fly into Cape Town International Airport. We advise you to arrive a day before in South Africa before you start working on your assignment.
Global Crossroad arranges for your airport pickups. Ensure that you send us your final flight information once your ticket is processed and completed. Our airport representative will pick you up from the airport and transfer you to your host family or to our volunteer house.
At the end of the project we do not offer airport drop off services. However, your host family or your local coordinator will help you to find safe and secure transportation to the airport.
Visa
You will need a tourist visa to join medical volunteer program in South Africa. You can get on arrival visa depending on your nationality. Visa can be extended by visiting the South African immigration office. Please visit the following site for more information in details.
Vaccination
Our volunteers need to get certain kinds of vaccination before joining South Africa medical volunteering program. It is always advisable to refer to or visit the Center for Disease Control's website for traveler's health recommendations. Please take note of these vaccines that you need while participating in South Africa health volunteering program, Hepatitis A &B, Malaria, Rabies, Typhoid vaccines and few others.
Why Medical Volunteer in South Africa?
As a medical volunteer in South Africa, you will gain invaluable experience, observing doctors and patients up-close in a variety of medical settings.
You will get an opportunity to know about the Health System of South Africa
While working as medical volunteer, you get a good chance to learn about a new and different health treatment system that exists in the country. This is an eye opening and knowledge boosting medical experience for you.
Volunteering Increases your mental peace and happiness
Taking part in health care project in South Africa will help you increase mental peace and happiness by overcoming depression. Volunteering abroad puts you in constant contact with others and helps you develop a backing system, which in turn defends you against depression.
You will make a difference:
Being a part of the medical volunteering program in South Africa not only enriches you with life-changing experiences, but also allow you to make a significant change in disadvantaged people’s life. You will earn a remarkable sense of accomplishment, pride, and fulfillment knowing that your selfless and actions have made a significant difference in the lives of those who are less fortunate than you.
You get to collaborate ideas with medical professional people.
Participating in this project will help you meet different kinds of healthcare professionals with whom you share ideas and come up with solutions for different health issues. It will also allow you to form a community of informed people to generate newer ideas and plans that could help mankind in the near future.
Other Volunteer Opportunities Available In South Africa
No matter your passion or interests, we offer a variety of life-changing, volunteer programs in South Africa such as
work in child care,
volunteer English teaching,
sport coaching and much more.
For more information on our exciting programs in South Africa, contact us today.
Medical Volunteer Programs in Other Countries
Other than this medical volunteer program in South Africa, we also offer great volunteer opportunities in the medical field in many countries cross the world.
Check out some of our most popular medical volunteering programs below