ABSTRACT:The saddest feature of rural medicine is the continuous loss of trained doctors from the bush. The rural medical workforce depends on the recruitment, training and retention of medical practitioners. While considerable funding and research effort has been directed to recruitment and training, minimal attention seems to have been paid to the retention of medical practitioners by either researchers or governments. The effectiveness of the major efforts of universities, governments and organizations of rural doctors to improve the medical workforce through recruitment and training is set at risk by high rates of attrition. Regrettably there is a dearth of literature on the retention of rural doctors. This paper seeks to review the literature to identify significant factors causing doctors to leave rural practice and to stimulate a search for solutions.