The article examines whether the South African government has a moral responsibility to fund and support the training of professionals in intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM).

This article employs a normative research design. The descriptive section examines the IONM practice landscape in South Africa, regions that exemplify best practices, and how other regions have found it morally and practically necessary to provide funding to healthcare fields. The evaluative section defends the position that the state, in fact, has a responsibility to fund the training of IONM professionals. Lastly, potential gaps are highlighted and addressed.

Increasing the number of expert IONM professionals has numerous, ethically relevant effects. Namely, it improves healthcare disparities by increasing the number of professionals with standardised training. This also closes the public-private healthcare gap by allowing disadvantaged patients in the public sector an opportunity to access IONM services. It also enables IONM experts, who compete globally, to address local issues. This includes promoting cost-effective practices, establishing local standards, advancing evidence-based practices, and enabling future experts.

The South African government is responsible for enhancing patient safety, reducing healthcare costs, mitigating medico-legal risk, and ensuring equitable surgical outcomes. Fellowships and scholarships are necessary to achieve these ends by enabling confident IONM professionals to standardise practice, design context-specific guidelines and training programs.

The study links funding to improving patient safety, not simply by increasing the number of IONM practitioners, but by framing scholarships and fellowships as a means to drive significant national practice improvements.