Free State Health MEC Viceroy Mahlatsi has committed to “facilitating ministerial engagements with the HPCSA, Pharmacy Council and SANC to find a way of approving membership for students who studied abroad”.
The department has already paid R12m to the University of Free State “to assist 150 graduates from Russia, China, Turkey to prepare for and get through the HPCSA Board Exams”.
Mahlatsi made the commitment during an engagement session he hosted with about 500 foreign-trained doctors, pharmacists, medical technologists and nurses in Bloemfontein earlier this month, writes Molefi Sompane for Health-e News.
At the event, the health professionals complained that the exams set by the various councils were retarding their entry into the workforce because they were prepared differently from exams written abroad. They also said some of them were unable to get jobs because the professional councils take long to approve them to work in this country.
“The MEC is welcome to engage the SANC on this matter as we are always open to discussion that will result in the protection of the public,” said SA Nursing Council Registrar and CEO Professor NG Mtshali.
The HPCSA told Health-e News that engagements with stakeholders “provide an opportunity to explain laws, regulations and policies that inform its processes and procedures”.
Vincent Tlala, registrar/CEO of the SAPC, said his organisation has had previous discussions with Mahlati’s predecessor, Montseng Tsiu.
“In 2021, the Office of the Registrar for the South African Pharmacy Council held a meeting with the Free State MEC for Health, the HOD, and other executives to discuss, among other things, the training of pharmacists outside South Africa.
“The SAPC said that if the provincial government elected to send students to study a pharmacy degree outside South Africa, it should first consult the SAPC on whether the curriculum of the intended institution would be equivalent to the BPharm qualification accredited by Council.”
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Failed foreign-trained doctors challenge exam results
Foreign-trained doctors go to court over delays in degree recognition
HPCSA, DoH threatened with legal action over foreign-trained doctors' placement