Pretoria - The South African Medical Association trade union has vowed to take the plight of unemployed community doctors to the Department of Health this week.
The call to action, according to its general secretary Dr Cedric Sihlangu, came after they were made aware of media reports regarding a communiqué issued by the Department of Health regarding the employment of doctors who were post-community service.
Sihlangu said in the statement the department had essentially distanced itself from the responsibility to provide employment for post-community service doctors by “mischievously” distorting the National Health Act.
According to the group, the act stipulated that the department, in conjunction with its provincial counterparts, take responsibility for the placement of internship and community service applicants.
Sihlangu said it was an embarrassment for a department within a constitutional democracy such as South Africa’s to have no clue of the ethos of the very health legislation that governed its operations.
“It is therefore disingenuous and malicious for the minister and his agents to come on a national platform and seek to play the victim on such a matter of serious national importance.
“The plight of unemployed doctors cannot be downplayed or reduced to malingering when its impact and consequence are devastating on the millions of vulnerable people in our communities who desperately need the attention and expertise of these doctors currently convicted and sentenced to house arrest without any just cause.
“If the minister is failing in his responsibilities, then a suitable replacement is needed urgently. We have had numerous engagements with the department on the alarming rate of unemployed doctors, and it is even more concerning that the department itself wants to rely solely on a purported list from our union which in fact was sent on multiple occasions.”
Sihlangu added that the announcement showed the dereliction of the department in its responsibilities, and how it had relied solely on union officials to drive a key project such as human resource recruitment of the department.
“The state has the responsibility to ensure that there is adequate staffing across all health-care facilities to protect both our communities and health-care professionals. Health-care professionals are exposed to high risk of burn-out and this is resulting in escalating levels of medical malpractice litigations as a result of being overloaded with work and consequential human errors that follow.”
In light of the situation, the union called on all doctors to join the national march against the unemployment of doctors this Thursday.
“We confirm that all the required notices have been served on all parties in writing as per prevailing prescripts and that we shall not be dissuaded by false claims and media propaganda intended to disunite doctors.”
Percy Mahlathi, deputy director-general for hospital services in the department, said they had a statutory obligation to employ interns for two years which formed part of their training and then community service.
After community service, Mahlathi said there was no legal obligation to employ the interns. However, there was a moral obligation to employ them, according to the official.
“That moral obligation is underpinned by the availability of budgets, as you can’t employ someone and then turn around and say you don’t have money to pay them.”
Mahlathi added that the issue was a chronic struggle they had been dealing with because out of 2 500 community service doctors they had last year from the union, there were about between 200 and 400 who were not employed.
This, he said, would mean the health sector had absorbed 2 100 doctors into the system.
In addition to that, he said the department was still conducting a tally from the provinces to find out where that number stood.
“The tally is ongoing as some take up employment at the end of January or the beginning of February. We are not saying when they complete their training no one is employed, yes they are employed, but it may not be the full complement.
“The budgets for employment are held by the provincial health departments, which is why we play a co-ordinating role at the national level, and certainly once we have an accurate list we would engage with the provinces,” he added.
By their record, he said the list they were given had 200 community doctors, but it had gaps and was not as accurate.
“We implore doctors not to wait for whatever attempts we do at the national level; instead they should approach the province to say they were available and apply for a post.”
Pretoria News