The dire shortage of medical staff and the critical number of vacancies at Eastern Cape hospitals and clinics – and others, nationwide – may be easing up with the government’s plan to hire 1 200 doctors, 200 nurses and 250 other health professionals, at a cost of R1.7bn, but some experts remain sceptical.
By the end of June, Eastern Cape Health had already hired 115 medical officers and 558 nurses, reports Daily Dispatch. The figures were disclosed in the Bhisho legislature by Health MEC Ntandokazi Capa in response to questions by DA MPL Jane Cowley.
Capa said many other posts had been advertised, and the recruitment of more medical personnel was well under way.
“Only posts that are funded and in the approved annual recruitment plan can be filled,” she said.
As of 30 June, the department had already employed 115 medical officers and 558 nurses.
“Additionally, the Minister has confirmed funding to employ 1 200 doctors, 200 nurses and 250 other categories of health professionals for all provinces, and the emergency funding of R90m for the HIV/Aids programme.”
The provincial government was now awaiting confirmation of allocation numbers, “after which, the (provincial co-ordinating team) approval processes, advertisement, recruitment and selection processes will unfold”.
Asked by Cowley how many funded posts for doctors and nurses were now vacant, and why these posts were not being filled if they were budgeted for and trained recruits were available, Capa said 1 190 medical officers’ posts had been filled and 172 were vacant.
Capa said more than 7 790 of the total of 9 269 nursing posts in the province had been filled, while 1 463 were still vacant.
However, according to the department’s approved annual recruitment plan, 118 medical officers’ posts and 61 nurses’ posts were currently funded.
“Technically, only posts within the conditional grants are funded at this time, plus the posts that the additional budgets referred to above are funded and will thus be filled,” Capa said.
The steps to boost staff numbers come just months after almost 200 disgruntled unemployed doctors took to the streets of Bhisho, camping outside the office of Premier Oscar Mabuyane for days and demanding that they be contracted by the provincial government.
Cowley has welcomed the plans to fill some of the posts but drew attention to two important issues that concerned her.
“First, the MEC has not stated how many medical officers and nurses have resigned or left the employment of the department over the past year.
“She also does not say how many registrars and specialists have left their employ, because there is a constant negative deficit and the vacant funded posts will never all be filled.
“The second and more serious factor is the fact that the (provincial co-ordinating and management team) has the final say on how many of the posts get filled, even if they are funded.
“They are hell-bent on under-filling posts so they can ring-fence allocated monies to settle their debts.
“The implication is that there are still not enough doctors and nurses, but patient numbers are increasing and the quality of care in all facilities in the Eastern Cape is sadly in a downward spiral.”
She added that doctors and nurses in the region’s bigger hospitals cannot even work shifts effectively as there are simply not enough of them to do so.
“This means much longer waiting hours and worse health outcomes. The upshot of this, more medico-legal cases filed against the department,” Cowley said.
SA Medical Association Trade Union Eastern Cape chair Dr Mpumelelo Melamane was also not impressed by the figures cited by Capa, saying they were misleading because many unemployed doctors, nurses and other medical personnel remained in limbo.
He said there was a “large cohort” of these medical practitioners whose documentation was still with the department’s HR department, and who were yet to be officially employed.
The union remains concerned that there are still more than 700 community service doctors, nurses, pharmacists and allied workers who are unsure about their futures.
Daily Dispatch article – Scores of doctors, nurses hired to ease staff shortages (Open access)
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