A total of 79 junior doctors supposedly allocated to public hospitals in Limpopo for their community service and who were due to start work on 1 July have still not received their contracts, with national Health Department spokesperson Foster Mohale saying the matter had been referred to national co-ordinator Nkosinathi Mjoli.
News24 reports that the issue of placements had been a recurring issue every year in January and July, with junior doctors waiting for medical internships or community service unsure about their future in the medical field.
The SA Medical Association (Sama) said the public healthcare system relied on the placement of interns and community service doctors to increase its staff complement.
Sama spokesperson Dr Mvuyisi Mzukwa said mid-year placement had been managed better than the previous cycle, with 105 interns and 363 community service doctors being placed, but that enrolment at medical schools needed to double to curtail a shortage of healthcare workers.
“There are currently 0.88 doctors per 1 000 patients in South Africa. This does not bode well for providing quality health outcomes to patients. The health authorities have to address the filling of vacancies in public hospitals,” Mzukwa added.
Last week, the national Department of Health announced it had finalised the placement of more than 1 100 medical interns and junior doctors on the Internship and Community Service Programme.
However, those in Limpopo are yet to start working.
Mohale said applicants were told to report for duty on 1 July, and only those who applied on the department’s application portal had been considered.
The 79 affected junior doctors had all applied via the portal and been accepted by the national department.
One said they had been told they would be placed at Seshego Hospital in Polokwane.
“But the Limpopo Health HR has failed to officially place me. I am now sitting at home unemployed and unable to fulfil my constitutional right to earn a living. I cannot be employed as a doctor elsewhere without doing my community service. They must either place us or release us from the obligation of doing community service.”
Another, who had been placed at Jane Furse Hospital, said they were shocked that clinical managers and hospital HR departments had not been informed of their appointments.
“The provincial HR department handles our appointments, but our appointments are not finalised. Some people called and were told they are waiting for approval.
“We have been trying to speak to different clinical managers of the hospitals where we have been appointed, but none of them knows about us. The first they heard about it was when we called them.”
DA Limpopo health spokesperson Risham Maharaj said they had received complaints from doctors who were meant to start work on 1 July but were now stranded and unemployed after their two-year medical internships concluded at the end of June.
“These doctors were placed at health facilities in the province on a list shared with them on 27 June but were seemingly told that there are funding issues and challenges in filling all the posts. None has received appointment letters, been offered employment contracts, or been contacted by the hospitals they have been placed to start work.”
He said the poor planning by the Limpopo Health Department was unacceptable.
“These doctors come from all over the country and cannot be expected to uproot their whole lives at a day or two of notice.”"
Limpopo Health spokesperson Neil Shikwambana shifted the blame to the national Health Department, saying it oversaw community service allocations, not the provinces.
“Provinces have never allocated interns or community services.”
The unemployed doctors’ outrage has intensified with the news that Deputy Minister of Health Sibongiseni Dhlomo would welcome around 450 new South African medical students from Cuba into the public health sector this week.
But, reports EWN, the department said this latest cohort, who completed their medical studies programme at Cuban universities, are expected to be placed mainly in disadvantaged and underserved areas that need the assistance, said Mohale.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Most interns, junior doctors finally placed
Junior doctors still unplaced for community service
Unplaced junior doctors freed from Gauteng Government contracts
‘Outraged’ SAMA threatens court action over placement of almost 5,000 junior doctors
Frozen posts but Gauteng Health spends R30m on Cuban doctors