Government is working tirelessly to ensure that unemployed doctors who want to join the public service are placed by 1 April this year, Health Minister Joe Phaahla has announced on Tuesday.
This follows an ongoing public outcry over medical doctors who have completed statutory community service programmes but remain unemployed.
“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,” said the Minister.
READ MORE: Medical association SAMATU hails adoption of NHI Bill.
During the debate on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), Phaahla said the Finance Minister will flesh out more details during his Budget Speech next week on how these posts will be funded.
“Our national team is working with the National Treasury team to thrash out the details and working with provincial health departments to speed up the process so that by 1st April 2024 all those who will not be already in posts can be able to start,” he told the National Assembly.
Phaahla said he was confident that some provinces will even be able to start giving out appointment letters before the set date, adding that the measures they are working on with Treasury “will give us sufficient breathing space while we are working on long-term solutions.”
He told Members of Parliament that over the last 15 years, government has ramped up the training of doctors both in the local universities and the Nelson Mandela Fidel Castro programme in Cuba.
The number of graduates, according to Phaahla, has almost doubled over the last 10 years, from 1 338 graduates who entered the internship programme in 2014 to 2 210 this year.
In addition, he said his department was committed to working with the medical association and trade unions to look at more opportunities for doctors, including offering primary health services in the community as the State prepares to implement the National Health Insurance (NHI).
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