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Youths take part in an initiation ceremony marking their transition from boyhood to manhood in the Eastern Cape, South Africa on July 10, 2006.
The Eastern Cape government says it is ready to re-establish rescue centres for initiates who become distressed during this traditional rite of passage.
Doctors and nurses will run the centres to prevent further deaths.
The current summer initiation season death toll stands at 20 young men.
Provincial Co-operative and Traditional Affairs Department MEC Zolile Williams says, “We will now contract medical doctors who are aligned to each group of people who practise traditional circumcision to take rounds at school, so that they can intervene and advise on what must be done to save lives as what we are currently doing with the NGO, Right to Know, where the doctors are on site helping, but their capacity is quite limited.”
Related video | Summer initiation season claims eight lives in the Eastern Cape:
