Durban - At least 100 doctors throughout the country fear they will be without jobs next year due to posts being frozen allegedly because the Department of Health has not guaranteed enough funding to public hospitals.
A selection of doctors completing their compulsory one-year community service on December 31 told The Mercury that, in spite of applying countrywide and sometimes even being offered positions, they will be unemployed in the new year.
The Mercury also understands that about 20 government bursary holders have not been guaranteed jobs.
The Department of Health on Thursday dismissed claims that there were funding problems, and said they were in the process of ensuring that there would be jobs for all doctors applying to government hospitals.
Dr Faheem Baba, who studied at the University of Stellenbosch and is completing his community service in Durban, is compiling a list of doctors who will be without jobs on January 1, which he will submit to the South African Medical Association.
He told The Mercury on Thursday that he had been approached by 100 doctors about their plight and expects more to come forward.
Doctors who have completed their community service are allowed to practise independently by the Health Professions Council of South Africa.
They can also become registrars, which allows them to be groomed as specialists.
“Lots of people were getting requests to stay and continue where they are doing their community service, but they got rejected afterwards and were told there are no funds,” Baba said.
He said doctors who contacted him had applied for jobs, only to see the job notice then taken down or be told the post was frozen.
He said in some cases doctors had sat for interviews only to find out that posts were frozen.
He said about 10 doctors were given posts but then had them taken away.
The spokesman for the national Department of Health, Joe Maila, denied there was a funding problem.
“Nobody will be without a job in this country. We have placed a lot (of doctors in posts) already, but there are those who have this or the other problem, and we are dealing with them one by one,” he said.
A doctor who completed her studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and did not want to be named, said she had applied for multiple posts in the province to no avail.
“I applied to Mahatma Gandhi, Stanger and King George Hospital. Sometimes there were two posts for 30 applicants.
“We are also told that posts, which should be freed because of people leaving or being moved around have become frozen.”
She is finishing her community service in Dannhauser and holds an additional degree in biomedical science
“I didn’t expect this to happen. Normally nobody would be without a job at a government hospital.”
Another doctor said they had learnt that their name had been attached to a post that they had been interviewed for, then told they would not be getting it because of a lack of funding.
Baba said many doctors were also told that they might get posts in the new financial year. “But what do you do in January and February? Do you stop your car insurance and medical aid?”
The chairman of Sama, Dr Mzukisi Grootboom, said they had warned the department a problem like this might arise when the government introduced austerity measures last year.
“We are trying to cajole them every day to see how many are without jobs (for next year). Our next step will be to ask for an urgent consultation with the department to see how to go forward.”