Gift of the Givers founder Dr Imtiaz Sooliman has called for the government to act fast in restoring the dignity of South Africans and the South African health-care system.
Dr Sooliman said if the country’s public health-care system is to succeed, it needs a government that invests in infrastructure, medical talent and the people of South Africa.
He was speaking during an opening address at the annual South African Medical Association (Sama) conference currently underway at the Sandton Convention Centre, where more than 500 medical practitioners are set to engage in a variety of discussions affecting the industry between Thursday and today.
“Where is compassion? We need people who are active and are able to fix and invest in infrastructure. We can do it. Our job as medical professionals is to save lives, and we certainly do not need politicians to be able to do our jobs, but we need infrastructure and investment into the public health-care system. It is illogical that posts are frozen, yet we have so many young doctors struggling to get opportunities,” he said.
President of Sama Kenneth David Boffard said the South African medical care industry is in need of good students.
“We need good students. We cannot sacrifice quality and we need both good schools and teachers to be able to prepare our graduates, who must be afforded opportunities to progress. We simply cannot exist without quality medical staff, including nurses, and we have seen massive losses of skilled graduates and skilled doctors.”
Boffard said the country was losing capable doctors in the thousands to various overseas destinations, which should be worrying for the government. He said there is a need to preserve the profession for the betterment of this country and its people.
“Over 20 years ago, the country produced more than 2 000 young doctors a year, and now we produce much less than that, yet we still lose more of them internationally,” he said.
The conference takes place just as reports indicate that South Africa has more than 2 000 unemployed young doctors who are sitting at home due to lack of funds to place them in the public sector.
On Monday, more than 200 qualified doctors and nurses in KwaZulu-Natal handed over a memorandum to the Department of Health following a picket demanding placement at public health facilities.
This comes at a time when South Africa is facing a critical shortage of qualified doctors at public health-care facilities.
Last month, the National Department of Health revealed that it did not have enough funds to employ young doctors who have completed their community service and are ready to be absorbed into the system.
However, this week, following the pickets, the Department announced that it has found a way to resolve the crisis with the minister, Dr Joe Phaahla, saying government is working tirelessly to ensure that unemployed doctors who want to join the public service are placed by April 1 this year.
“I am, therefore, happy to announce that working with the Minister of Finance we have a solution to address the current challenge of doctors who want to stay in the public service but could not be offered funded posts,” Phaahla said.
Phaahla has indicated that more clarity on the way forward would be given by the finance minister in his much-anticipated Budget Speech next week.
Saturday Star