South Africa does not have nearly enough doctors to service the country, and is likely to lose another 3 500 in the next 10 years, warns an economic research company.

The number of general practitioners in South Africa could drop by 12 percent and specialists by 16 percent, according to the latest research by Econex.

The count of 27 431 could drop to 23 849 by 2020 if the current state of affairs continues.

One of the paper’s authors, economist Mariné Erasmus, said they had focused specifically on doctors, looking at age profiles, training and attrition rates.

Referring to the planned national health service, the paper said, “South Africa does not have nearly enough doctors to deal with current demand and there is a large vacancy rate across the country… a decrease in the number of doctors over the next 10 years would therefore be detrimental to the delivery of care to the whole population.”

Currently there were 17 801 GPs and 9 630 specialists working in South Africa, achieving a ratio of 55 doctors per 100 000 people.

This was far short of the ratios in developed countries such as the US, Britain, and Australia.

But even against countries on a similar economic development level, such as Brazil and Mexico, South Africa still compared unfavourably.

Brazil has 185 doctors for every 100 000 people, the UK 230, Greece 500, the US 256, Australia 247 and Mexico 198.

The report said that the Western Cape had the highest number of doctors – 135 per 100 000 people – followed by Gauteng at 102, the Free State at 55, KwaZulu-Natal at 53 and Limpopo at a paltry 17.

Vacant posts across the country reflect 49 percent for GPs and 44 percent for specialists.

Erasmus said these figures were influenced by urbanisation and the location of teaching hospitals. It was a reflection of where most medical scheme members were and where the economic hubs were.

The College of Medicine of SA estimates 25 percent of doctors trained in South Africa no longer work here. The largest number of South African-trained doctors – 3 625 – were in the UK, followed by 2 828 in the US, 1 345 in Canada and 1 114 in Australia.

Erasmus said with the tightening of foreign immigration laws, more doctors would remain.

Meanwhile, moves by the British Home Office to tighten immigration laws would affect not only doctors, but all skilled South Africans.

That’s according to Robbie Ragless of Globalvisas.com

“This will affect South Africans who comprise a large number of skilled individuals entering the UK every year, most of whom would go over on the Tier 1 (highly skilled) visa.

“There were also proposals to get rid of this visa type. It would be replaced with an exceptional talent visa.” The new scheme was for scientists, academics and artists.

The British government recently said that next year it would introduce an annual limit of 21 700 non-Europeans entering the country as skilled workers, down by 6 300 from last year.

In addition the Home Office would also tighten the intra-company transfer route and restrict the “highly skilled” tier to entrepreneurs, investors and people of exceptional talent.

One of the reasons for the change was that the British government found a third of the “highly skilled” immigrants were actually doing low-skilled jobs once there.

Earlier this year Britain made it easier for South Africans to get working visas, allowing those with bachelor degrees, not just masters, to apply, but two years ago it scrapped the two-year working holiday visa for young South Africans, preventing thousands of people from spending the popular “gap year” in the UK.

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Egypt David E. Miller – Eid Al-Adha, the Festival of Sacrifice, now being celebrated across the Muslim world, is a joyous time of year for believers worldwide. However, for Muslim vegetarians the holiday spirit bears somber overtones.

Arab slaughterhouses overflowed with sheep-toting Muslims on Tuesday, the first day of Eid, when people not only celebrate by eating meat but must purchase an approved animal – such as a cow, camel, sheep or goat — for sacrifice.

“I don’t like seeing people eat tons of meat during the holiday,” Arwa Aburawa, a vegetarian Muslim blogger from Jordan now living in Manchester told The Media Line. “Eating meat is a personal choice, which I respect, but you don’t have to overdo it.”

The holiday commemorates the willingness of the Biblical Abraham to slaughter his son (in the Jewish and Christian tradition, Isaac; in the Muslim tradition, Ishmael) for the sake of God. Eid Al-Adha, also known as “the greater Eid,” is celebrated on the 10th day of the last Islamic month of the year. In the Islamic narrative, God appeared to Abraham in a dream, commanding him to sacrifice his only son. With Ishmael under the knife, God called out to Abraham and told him he had passed the test, substituting his son with a ram which Abraham then sacrificed.

In the tiny emirate of Abu-Dhabi, some 150 butchers augmented the regular staff of the slaughterhouses to deal with nearly 4,000 animals. Muhammad Al-Marzouqi, head of the slaughterhouse department in Abu-Dhabi’s Health Ministry told the Emirati daily Al-Itihad that about 15,000 animals were due to be slaughtered during the four-day-long holiday.

“We should reveal how un-Islamic slaughterhouses have become,” Manar Ammar, an Egyptian vegan and animal rights activist told The Media Line. “As a vegan and a Muslim animal rights supporter, I encourage people to give the money to charity, which will last much longer than a meal with meat in it.”

In Israel, where about 20 percent of the population is Muslim, an appliance store offered a free sheep with every purchase of a refrigerator and had the animals gathered in a parking lot for the customer to choose from until health authorities put a stop to it. The mass killing of sheep has aroused the ire of animal right activists in Australia, which this year supplied 800,000 sheep worth $92 million to the Gulf.

Visiting Kuwait and Bahrain, activists captured pictures of Australian sheep jammed into car trunks and having their throats cut. Campaigners hoped this will create public pressure back home and bring an end the exports, the Australian Associated Press reported Wednesday.

Aburawa said that at first many of her Muslim friends questioned whether she could be both Muslim and vegetarian, but they became more accepting when she explained herself.

Aburawa emphasized that she tries not to preach vegetarianism, but rather encourage Muslims to consume meat in moderation, preferably from organic sources. She added that Muslims living in the Middle East generally show less understanding to vegetarians than those living in the West.

“When I became a vegetarian eight years ago, my family in Jordan didn’t understand what it was all about,” she said. “But, over the years they got over it.”

The meat sacrificed on Eid Al-Adha is traditionally divided three ways between family members, friends and the poor.

Islamic fatwas (legal opinions) tolerate vegetarianism, but do not usually encourage it. “A Muslim may be a vegetarian,” South African Mufti Ebrahim Desai is quoted as ruling on IslamicConcern.com, a website advocating Islamic vegetarianism. “However, he should not regard eating meat as prohibited.”

Liberal clerics, such as American scholar Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, point to Islamic oral traditions to justify vegetarianism.

“Traditionally Muslims were semi-vegetarians,” Yusuf claimed in a religious audio tape. “Umar [the second Muslim Caliph] said: ‘Beware of meat, because it has an addiction like the addiction of wine’.”

But overt expressions of vegetarianism are rare in the Arab world. In an incident which sparked international media interest, a young Jordanian woman took to the streets of Amman last July wearing a suit made of lettuce leaves while holding an Arabic sign that read “let vegetarianism grow on you.”

Muhannad Anati, a Jerusalem resident, said he didn’t personally know any Muslim vegetarians.

“We Muslims don’t practice vegetarianism as people know it in the West,” he told The Media Line.

But where principles don’t weigh in, prices often do. The soaring price of meat this year has pushed many Muslims to forced vegetarianism this year. “I’m spending the holiday at my parents’ home,” he said, “and they ordered in vegetarian pizza.”

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Sydney, Australia (AHN) – Earlier this year two airline bosses, Tony Fernandes of AirAsia and Sir Richard Branson of Virgin, made a bet that whoever’s Formula One racing team lost in this year’s races would dress and serve as a female steward in the winner’s airline.

And at yesterday’s last Formula One race in Abu Dhabi, Fernandes’ Lotus 1 team won over Branson’s Virgin Racing.

Although both teams completed the season with zero points on Sunday, Lotus was ahead of Branson’s Virgin Racing in the rankings due to Lotus’ better finishing positions.

Branson will now be expected to don a red and “fetching” AirAsia flight attendant’s uniform on a Kuala-Lumpur to London flight on a yet to be announced date.

It’s not all fun and games though, as tickets for the flight will be auctioned off online with proceeds to be donated to charity to ease Branson’s “discomfort,” Fernandes told AFP.

The bet was initiated by Branson, who made a similar bet in July 2003 to then-Qantas airline chief executive Geoff Dixon over whether Virgin would get to fly to Australia in 18 months. The letter was accompanied by a picture of Dixon’s head superimposed on the body of a caped and red-uniformed female flight attendant. Dixon declined the dare.

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AngloGold Ashanti, the world’s third-largest gold miner, beat its guidance for third-quarter output and costs on Thursday, sending its shares up more than 4 percent.

Investors overlooked the company’s adjusted headline loss for the July-September quarter, which was largely due to the previously announced closure of its hedge book.

AngloGold has closed out instruments it used to hedge against the price of gold, allowing it to sell at market prices, boost its cash flow and profit margins and to push ahead on some of its growth projects.

“I’m quite happy with the results. They are managing their costs and the whole sector is also helped by very strong fundamentals,” said Abri du Plessis, an analyst at Gryphon Asset Management.

Chief Executive Mark Cutifani said he remained bullish on the price of gold, which on Tuesday hit a record high of $1424.10, and was trading at $1416.90 an ounce by 13:40 SA time.

“From a planning perspective we are guessing somewhere between $1300-1400 an ounce (over the next 12 months), but on the upside anything is possible,” Cutifani said.

AngloGold shares, up 14.3 percent so far this year, gained 4.4 percent by 13:40 SA time, compared with a 0.31 percent rise in Johannesburg’s Top-40 index.

Production rose 3 percent from the previous quarter to 1.162 million ounces, above its own forecast of 1.15 million ounces.

Cash costs rose to $643 per ounce from $617 an ounce in the previous three months, still below guidance of $645.

The better-than-guided output and costs also helped mitigate the impact from a strong rand, which has risen nearly 28 percent since the start of 2009 and which has been a thorn in the side of African exporters.

PROJECTS PIPELINE

Africa’s top gold miner, which has operations across four continents, said output for the year would be 4.5 million ounces at a cost of $635 an ounce, at the lower end of its forecast of 4.5 million to 4.7 million.

Production for 2011 is likely to rise above the 4.5 million ounces as new projects come on stream, and as the company targets an increase of 1 million ounces over five years. AngloGold reported an adjusted loss of 321 US cents per share for the July-September quarter, compared with adjusted earnings of 35 US cents in the April-June quarter.

Headline earnings are the key profit measure in South Africa, stripping out some one-time and non-trading items.

The hedge book close-out hit adjusted headline earnings by $1.487 billion and is expected to result in a hit of around $1.045 billion in the October-December quarter.

The company said it had approved the development of the Tropicana gold project in Australia, in which it holds a 70 percent stake. First gold from the project is expected towards the end of 2013, with an annual attributable production of up to 343,000 ounces a year for the first three years.

Peers Gold Fields posted better-than-expected earnings for the July-September quarter, while smaller Harmony Gold returned to profit during the three months. – Reuters

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Norway topped the United Nations’ 2010 Quality of Life Index released Thursday. Norway was followed by Australia, New Zealand, United States and Ireland.

The European nation, which has been number one on the list since 2001 except for two years, is rich in oil resources where life expectancy is 81 years and average yearly income of Norwegians is $58,810. The average education is 12.6 years and the country’s health care system is rated excellent.

On sixth to 10th places are Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, Canada, Sweden and Germany. Canada has significantly gone done to eighth place from fourth place in 2009.

On the opposite end is African nation Zimbabwe, which has been the cellar dweller for the past five years. The average life expectancy of a Zimbabwean is only 47 years, while yearly average income is a paltry $176.

Also on the bottom list are other African nations such as Mozambique, Burundi, Niger and Congo.

Economic growth has spurred the upward movement of some countries in the list such as China, Indonesia and South Korea. China ranked 89th and is on the High Development group.

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The good news, is that 2010 shows strong potential for being a much better year for the business-for-sale market. Indeed, the latter part of 2009 demonstrated clear signs of recovery that began mid-year. There are two driving forces behind the improving market. First is an increased demand for small businesses due to high unemployment rates, with unemployed individuals opting to give entrepreneurship a try rather than seeking a return to a traditional corporate job. Second is the return of capital to the market, which gives potential buyers the ability to finance the purchase of a small business.

Additionally, businesses that require smaller levels of capital investment, including select service businesses and Restaurants for sale in Australia, are helping to lead the evolving recovery in the business-for-sale marketplace. Business owners and buyersin these two sectors are seeing an opportunity to transact that wasn’t there six months ago. What the Future Holds:-Overall, 2010 is shaping up to be a much more productive year for small business transactions and we can anticipate slow but consistent recovery throughout the year.

Throughout the recession, small-business owners have focused on running their businesses and staying a float. Exit planning and considering the worth of their business were of little concern and the number of businesses for sale declined significantly. As the economy continues to improve the owners are finding a good market with desirable prices to sell their business. Remember, preparing your business for sale takes time and a listed business will typically take five to twelve months to sell. If you want to sell within the next two years, you need to start the process now.

This article is an extract from the Advanced Window Cleaning eBook. It will attempt to give the budding window cleaner a brief introduction to window cleaning based on experienced professional window cleaners.

You are about to embark on running your own business and being your own boss. You can be up and running within a week with very little capital or even experience. Business name:

Before you start your lucrative new business you’ve got to think of a good business name. You’ll need something you won’t hate a month later after your business cards, stationary, and advertisements are already printed! Been there got the t-shirt.

A lot of new business owners choose their name (i.e. John Smith Window Cleaning Services) which is absolutely fine. As long as it’s memorable and to the point.

Once you’ve chosen a name check with company house to find out if that name is still available at companies house. If it is available, make sure the domain name is also available too at a domain seller (I’ll explain why later).

If you’re based in the UK you’ll want the “.co.uk” as well as the “.com”. Whichever country you live in you’ll need the domain address that corresponds with your local area, i.e. Australia would be “.au”.

Once you’ve purchased your domain name it needs to be hosted.

What is hosting?

Once your website is completed the site must be placed on a web “Server” (a computer which is permanently connected to the Internet). This means that your site can be accessed anywhere around the world at any time.

My favourite company is 1&1, but feel free to use the company of your choice. You may even get hosting from 123 reg too!

There are several different factors that go into the decision making process when deciding on the right name for your business, and no one could ever tell you what’s right for you, that decision is yours only.

The name you eventually decide to use may impact other aspects of your business and your overall marketing plan. For example, where will you will be placed in alphabetical ad listings such as the yellow pages? Most prospective clients don’t call every listing in the book, just one, or two, maybe three, if comparing price quotes and services.

Registering Your Business with Mr Tax Man

Once you’ve found a name for your business and you’ve got the domain name registered it’s time to tell Mr Tax Man than you have now started a business. The reason why you do this straight away is the fact that there are a series of fines for not letting them know.

As a new business, you have the choice of being a sole trader, partnership or limited company. I’ll give you a brief example of the 3.

Sole Trader

Being a sole trader is the simplest and easiest way to get started in business. Once you have informed the government agencies of your intentions to go self-employed, you can start to trade right away (subject to any specific licenses or insurances you might require).

As a sole trader, you can quickly adapt to changes in your business with minimal bureaucratic changes required and you have complete control over your business and accounting affairs. However, a sole trader is also responsible for any liabilities should anything go wrong. This means that any debts that the business has can be seen as your own.

Partnership

A partnership is very similar to being a sole trader. This is the type of business entity in which partners share with each other the profits or losses of the business undertaking in which all have invested. Not only do both parties share the profits, they also share the liabilities too.

Limited Company

Aside from sole trader status, most small businesses set up as Limited Companies. The term ‘limited’ derives from the fact that the company’s finances are distinct from the personal finances of their owners (unlike the sole trader or partnership arrangement).

Shareholders in limited liability companies are not responsible for company debts, although if required, directors may be required to guarantee loans or credit granted to the company. In essence it is a separate entity.

At this point, I’d ask you to speak to an accountant (chapter 3) to see which direction is best for you. Everyone’s circumstances are different. For tax reasons I chose to be registered as “Limited Company”. This may or may not be the best course for you. I’ll let you decide!

Franchise

So what does a franchise give you? A franchise gives you an established name, cooperative marketing with other franchisees, bulk purchasing power, training and management expertise and much much more. There are some early advantages of buying a franchise rather than building your own business from scratch. They’re the types of advantages solo entrepreneurs might reap — if they’re lucky — after years of hard work in the trenches.

Naturally, franchising has its drawbacks, too. Agreements between franchisors and their franchisees can seem a little rigid, especially to eager, innovative self-starters who expect to grow their businesses as they see fit.

One of the other drawbacks is finance. Franchises can be very expensive to purchase ranging from 9,999 for a mama and papa type franchise to 250,000 (minimum) for a McDonald’s fast-food type franchise. Ouch!

Financing Your Business

If you don’t feel that confident venturing out on your own and want to choose either the Franchise or License model, there are few bodies and organisations you can try tapping for financing your new venture.

Listed below: -

Small Firm Loan Guarantee scheme

DTI Grant for Research and Development

Business Link Access to Finance service

Enterprise Grants

Prince’s Trust

Author: Joe Polanski-Smith
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Demand for solar grants has soared

In a short time that solar energy grants have been boosted to genuinely attractive levels. You can even double-dip in Federal and State grants. Public interest in this money has soared to unprecedented levels.

All want to know how they can access government money for weatherization (home insulation), home heating and cooling, solar panels, wind generators, geothermal energy and so on. Others want to know where to find money to start up renewable energy businesses.

Home owners and renters, low-income group housing advocates, ethnic minority agencies, businesses starting up some sort of renewable technology product or service, want help to save costs and energy.

Why all these incentives?

Like all waves, the economic stimulus money, the renewable energy incentives, and green job promotion will subside. Therefore there is only a limited time that a wave surfer can enjoy the ride! To know where you are at on this green wave lets look at some reasons why these renewable energy incentives are there in the first place.

There are really only three reasons for government-sponsored renewable energy grants:

1 Economics

2 Economics

3 Climate change

Make no mistake! Economic stimulus packages really only include renewable energy, energy efficiency and conservation because it benefits the economy first. Climate change reasons just make them taste sweeter.

Early in the development of solar panels and wind power, governments could see some future economic potential. But there was no big public lobby. And human-caused global warming was still a hotly disputed phenomenon. So, almost as mere lip service to an interesting trend the first tentative incentives surfaced.

But no-one was really pushed to act on them for as long as Peak Oil, global warming and economic downturns were not part of our everyday consciousness. Evolution of human nature most certainly includes a sizeable contribution by that of the ostrich. But now that most of us were forced to pull our heads out of the sand by economic realities politicians have finally decided that we must act.

Renewable energy costs are now on a par or catching up with Earth-choking fossil fuels so what better time for a global economic recession, as we still call it politely? We used to start up a big war to spend us out of such a mess but today we have “Climate Change”, public enemy number one. Green jobs, green homes, green cars, green toilet paper. Merely using more of these will get us through is the thinking.

Solar incentives are melting like glaciers

Why are these government incentives only here here to stay for a short time? Ironically it’s hot success that is the killer.

1) Success of grant schemes. Governments have spent so much on stimulating their economies that there is no money left to pay for incentives. In Australia we have already seen some incentives close early because the high demand for them made it unsustainable for government to keep funding them.

2) Success of renewable energy. As renewable energy, insulation, energy efficiency and conservation become viably established in the market place the need to artificially drive their demand evaporates. Result, turning off of government money taps.

These two reasons apply both to individuals and companies. Even if you are the clean coal lobby and chalk up US $150 Billion for a “clean energy fund. ” That also can only be a one-off.

Get your grant now or do without

The conclusion is simple. Governments will only be able to spend this green tidal wave once. After that it’s frugal living for a long time with no grants. Would you rather live through an extended recession while you have reduced your energy costs, or not?

What to do?

• Look at the stage that your government is in, in making renewable energy grants, and in the size of its debt.
• Does it have fresh schemes or long-standing ones?
• Look at closing dates and funding caps.
• Keep a close eye on subtle changes to conditions
• Most of all, research what you need and what is available in your locality

Go for it. Now!

Author: Erik Leipoldt
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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