Johannesburg - Doctors are reportedly leaving the SANDF in droves due to low salaries, sparking fears their exodus is bringing 1 Military Hospital to the brink of collapse.
This year, 69 doctors – 48 from 1 Military Hospital – have left the SANDF.
Low salaries, compared to doctors working at state hospitals, a lack of equipment and an allegedly incompetent human resources department have been identified as the main reasons behind the exodus.
The Star has seen a letter that one of the doctors, who has since resigned, wrote bemoaning the status quo.
The letter reads in part: “The South African Military Health Services is totally collapsed and I don’t see hope that it can be rescusitated unless it’s buried, totally dismantled and a new system devised.
“At one point, a department had eight specialists and medical officers. They are gone. Obstetrics refers all their patients to other facilities. All have left.
“Urology had one medical officer. He has left. Every day a doctor resigns and nobody cares.”
The South African Medical Association’s Dr Poppy Ramathuba said the rate at which the military doctors were leaving was alarming.
She said they had a wealth of experience.
Ramathuba said when state doctors went on strike for better salaries in 2009, military doctors stepped in and took care of patients who had been “abandoned”.
When the strike ended, the striking doctors were given better salaries, while military doctors were just fed promises.
This, she said, was frustrating for doctors, hence the exodus. In the process, 1 Military Hospital had been “allowed to collapse”.
“Every day people are leaving. There is no equipment. Patients are now being referred to private hospitals and the state is footing the bill,” she said.
A doctor working at 1 Military, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the situation was dire at the hospital because it lacked many specialists, nursing staff and equipment.
“You can ask yourself why Nelson Mandela was outsourced, whereas 1 Military is the hospital he should have been treated at.
“There is no cardiologist, no oncologists, no neurosurgeon and no nephrologist (a kidney specialist). There are no dialysis machines, no MRI machines and no sonar machines.
“For the past four years, pregnant women have been sent to Steve Biko Academic Hospital and private hospitals. The intensive-care unit has one doctor.”
The doctor said she had not jumped ship despite these problems, because she knew the patients who used the facility needed her.
Steve Biko Academic Hospital’s deputy chief executive Dr Mathabo Mathebula confirmed that 1 Military Hospital sends patients to them, some pregnant and others not.
“Both 1 Military Hospital and Steve Biko Academic Hospital are government hospitals. Steve Biko Academic, being a national hospital, receives patients for any kind of service that another state institution requires for patient care,” Mathebula said.
Ramathuba said when they complained about these problems, Minister of Defence Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula appointed a team to look into it. A report was compiled with recommendations.
But none were implemented, Ramathuba said.
SANDF spokesman Siphiwe Dlamini said the concerns highlighted were part of the terms of reference of the Ministerial Task Team that was appointed on March 10 to investigate the challenges facing the SA Military Health Service.
“As the task team is finalising their investigations, it would be inappropriate to speculate on the possible recommendations of the task team at this stage,” Dlamini said.
The Star