The Limpopo health department shifted the blame for the lack of placing junior doctors to the national department of health.
Sandile Ndlovu/Gallo Images/Sowetan
- Seventy-nine junior doctors who were allocated to public hospitals in Limpopo have not yet been placed.
- National health department spokesperson Foster Mohale says the applicants are still waiting for contracts from the Limpopo health department.
- He adds the matter has been referred to the department’s national coordinator, Nkosinathi Mjoli.
Every year in January and July, the placement of junior doctors for medical internships or community service has become an issue as many are left 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.
“A few medical students and interns have struggled to be placed. The department has been alerted to these and is addressing them on a case-by-case basis,” Mzukwa added.
He said 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 filing of vacancies in public hospitals,” Mzukwa added.
Recruiting unemployed doctors was key in ensuring vacancies were filled and quality healthcare was provided to patients, he said.
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, junior doctors, who were allocated to public hospitals in Limpopo for their compulsory community service, are yet to start working.
READ | Health dept announces placements for medical interns, junior doctors 3 days before start date
Department spokesperson Foster Mohale said applicants were told to report for duty on 1 July, and only those who applied on the department’s application portal were considered.
The 79 affected junior doctors applied via the portal and were accepted by the national department.
Mohale said he had referred the matter to the department’s national coordinator, Nkosinathi Mjoli, to “check and advise accordingly”.
Jane was meant to be placed at Seshego Hospital.
Google© Streetview/Google Maps/ taken 2023
He referred News24’s queries to the Limpopo health department.
Junior doctors who were placed in other provinces started their community service as planned, but the 79 who were placed in Limpopo have not as they have not yet signed their contracts with the provincial health department.
Earlier this month, News24 reported how medical interns and junior doctors in Gauteng still had not heard where they would be placed as part of the Internship and Community Service Programme.
One frustrated junior doctor, Sizwe*, told News24 on Tuesday they were no different from the unemployed masses.
Another, Jane*, said they were informed they would be placed at Seshego Hospital in Polokwane.
Jane said:
I accepted my placement, 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 junior doctor, August*, who was placed at Jane Furse Hospital in Burgersfort, said they were shocked clinical managers and hospital HR departments were not informed of their cohort.
“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 as we have been split all across the hospitals. None of the clinical managers knows about us. They just knew via us calling them.”
Another doctor, Zodwa*, said they had been waiting for a placement for the past three months.
“I have been unemployed for three months. Meanwhile, I have rent to pay, and the bills are piling up. No one is saying anything. We want to know when we are going to sign the contracts so that we can start working.”
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.
Maharaj added:
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 of these doctors 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 as much-needed community service doctors were now effectively unemployed.
“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.”
*Not their real names