The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) has been accused of “deliberately” frustrating efforts by overseas-trained South African doctors to integrate into the local medical fraternity.
This is the view of the SA Internationally Trained Health Professionals Association (Saithpa), which is prepared to seek legal action if necessary.
The Sunday Tribune reports that Saithpa has helped hundreds of doctors overcome integration hurdles since 2018, and is now demanding the release of the exam papers of doctors who wrote HPCSA’S recent board exams.
Saithpa has claimed that since the HPCSA’S board exams had been facilitated at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, members’ pass rates had dropped drastically and that the HPCSA refuses to allow the candidates to review their exam papers afterwards.
Advocate Rene Govender, Saithpa’s legal desk chairperson, said that affiliated members previously achieved pass rates of 60% to 80%, but that these had dropped to 40%.
Previously, board exams were written at Sefako Makgatho University in Gauteng.
“Many of these doctors were high-flyers throughout their student years, some of whom have landed bursaries and studied at leading overseas universities,” said Govender, calling the drop in rates “shocking”, and adding that the HPCSA, custodians of the exams, refused students access to their scripts to review and verify alleged shortcomings.
She said they were prepared to approach the courts for relief, as they had done successfully in the past.
“Copyright” over the scripts was the HPCSA’s excuse for not releasing them, but, she added, “the scripts belong to the students because they wrote the exam… it is their record”.
The exam issue was among others raised in a letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa, calling for intervention.
The letter said the HPCSA continued with its “ineffectual and inept handling of the curriculum review process”, where the returning doctors’ qualifications were scrutinised, and their right to register and practise in the country was delayed by the body.
Govender said their qualifications had already been verified by the Education Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) – a key requirement for registration with the HPCSA.
“The ECFMG sets the standard for authentication and verification of qualifications from global medical training schools recognised by the WHO. Once their qualifications become ECFMG-accredited, it’s a seamless registration process for board examinations in countries like the UK, US, Canada and Australia – but not South Africa.
“Here it is a meaningless and frustrating process, which the ECFMG has already done.”
The processes could last six months for some candidates, while others waited a few years and even went to court in some instances.
Saithpa also asked the President to investigate the HPCSA’S high board exam charges.
To complete their board exams, doctors must first write and pass a theoretical paper to qualify for the practical paper, usually written a few months later.
It costs R13 000 to write each paper. “We demand a complete audit of the funds paid to the HPCSA in lieu of board examination fees,” the organisation said.
The HPCSA and the Presidency did not respond to questions.
Sunday Tribune PressReader article – Overseas-trained doctors ‘blocked’ (Open access)
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