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Public sector lack of gynaecologists

There is a hospital near Sandton, northern Joburg, that has more gynaecologists than all the state facilities in Mpumalanga and Limpopo combined. The Times reports that this was noted by Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi who said that there are only are six full-time gynaecologists working in the public sector in Mpumalanga and nine in Limpopo. Three also work part time for the state in Limpopo, according to Joe Maila, Motsoaledi's spokesperson.

With at least 2.6m women using state healthcare facilities in Limpopo, this means there is only one full-time gynaecologist for almost 300,000 women. In Mpumalanga, the six full-time gynaecologists each serve 297,000 women. Motsoaledi said the fact that most doctors worked in the private sector and serviced about 18% of the population revealed the vast "inequality" in the country's health system.

But Chris Archer, a gynaecologist and head of the SA Private Practitioners' Forum, said posts for government specialists had been on and off for years. He said this meant that when new gynaecologists qualified, they faced two choices: go overseas or work in private practice. "The fact that gynaecologists could make a living working in private practice meant the industry had retained the doctors in the country," Archer said. He said many of his colleagues would love to work in the public arena if it were well-managed. "(The public sector) has politicised management, runs out of drugs or has broken or poorly maintained equipment," he is quoted in the report as saying.

Health economist Alex van den Heever agreed, but he also said when specialist posts for public hospitals were advertised, doctors applied for them. "The state pays about R1.5m a year for a top specialist and offers a huge pension that pays 75% a month of what one earned when working, for the rest of your life." It was hard for private doctors' savings to compete with the government's pension fund, he said.

[link url="http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2015/05/07/gynaes-in-wrong-places"]Full report in The Times[/link]

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