KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Sibongiseni would be flying to the country with a clinical psychologist to get them off the righteous path and back on the road of medicine.

"If they have a calling to be pastors, evangelists, then they can come back home with me and raise funds to get into that. Otherwise they need to focus on their studies," Dhlomo said on Tuesday.

The students had used their stipends to have a pastor from KwaZulu-Natal flown in, department spokesperson, Desmond Motha, said in a statement. He said the students were on the verge of failing as they were spending too much time in Bible study groups and nocturnal religious activities. Dhlomo said they had been speaking to their parents, who had been trying to keep their children focused on their studies. "The funding was very specific. We need doctors here."

"When we were training a long time ago, we also had religious programmes and there is nothing wrong with that. But you can’t spend seven hours, seven days a week on religious activities," Dhlomo said.

- News24.com