Financially-strapped provincial Health Departments have slashed the number of community service pharmacy posts available next year, meaning there won't be enough positions to meet demand, the Independent Community Pharmacy Association has warned.
Without completing 12 months of community service, pharmacists cannot register with the SA Pharmacy Council and are prohibited from practising, reports Business Day.
Despite having completed their training, with a four-year degree and a one-year internship under their belts, if they have not met the mandatory community service requirements, their only option is a lower-skilled and much lower-paid job as a pharmacy assistant.
Although private sector pharmacies have provided about 10% of SA’s community service posts for several years, they have never been able to completely fill the breach, the Pharmaceutical Society of SA (PSSA) said.
Provincial Health Departments have committed to funding 723 community service posts for pharmacists for next year, about 150 fewer than they do now, according to the PSSA.
This means the state will take only three-quarters of about 950 pharmacists who have applied for community service positions for 2023, said PSSA executive director Ivan Kotze.
Private hospitals
Only a limited number of pharmacies approved by the Health Department provide community service posts, and the R330 000 remuneration they provide is markedly lower than the state’s R488 000 annual package.
Pharmacy Council CEO Vincent Tlala suggested the government widen pharmacy community service posts to include private hospitals, which already take on pharmacy interns. Large hospital groups such as Netcare, Mediclinic and Life Healthcare, could potentially each take on 100 community service pharmacists, he said.
Pharmacy Council data show close to 800 interns wrote exams this year and will probably require community service posts next year. But the total number of people needing community service positions for 2023 is larger because applications are also made by people who failed to obtain a place this year, said the PSSA.
The Health Department’s director for human resources, Victor Khanyile, said all the pharmacists who were eligible for community service when applications closed (on 4 October) had been placed.
But the PSSA said his assurance applied only to interns who had written exams in March or August and not those who wrote exams in October and were still waiting for their results.
BusinessLIVE article – Frustration for some pharmacist graduates at the final hurdle (Open access)
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