By Lungi Langa
Doctors took to the streets on Thursday to demand that the national health department hire more than 1,000 newly qualified medics who can’t find work.
Doctors belonging to the South African Medical Association Trade Union (Samatu) marched in three different provinces: KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Eastern Cape.
Samatu general secretary Cedric Sihlangu said they had been trying to get the department to address the concerns around the hiring of doctors but have had no joy. He said South Africa’s public health system is overburdened, yet over 1,000 doctors are sitting at home.
He said the issue of doctors not being placed is about a lot more than doctors being unemployed.
“Access to healthcare is a fundamental right. We are advocating for the poor and marginalised who are struggling to get quality healthcare.”
He said they were also concerned by the attitude of the Department of Health: unemployed doctors were told the department is not obliged to absorb them into the system — and that they should go into private practice, or leave the country.
Dr Ntokozo Maphanga, 33, is a young unemployed medical officer doing locums for General Practitioners to earn her living while her fate is being decided.
She said she never expected to be unemployed after finishing her studies. She has always wanted to serve in the public sector to serve the community she grew up in; and also felt it is where doctors gain the most experience.
Maphanga, who completed her community service in December last year in Bizana, said while they understand the lack of funds involved, it seems to them that the DoH is detached from the situation.
“The problem is that there are no posts, or too few… there is one post here and two there, they aren’t enough to go around,” she said.
“Where do we go and who do we cry to when they say that they have no money for us to work?”
In response to the doctors’ call on Thursday, Health Minister Joe Phaahla said it was clear and logical for the country to train doctors and even send them overseas, not only to absorb them into the health system.
“We are in agreement that that is unacceptable,” said Phaahla.
Pictured above: Doctors are demanding that the department of health hires unemployed young doctors who have still not been given positions in the state sector
Image source: Supplied
