The South African Medical Association Trade Union (SAMATU) has slammed the Department of Health’s decision to cut budgets and freeze vacancies, calling it a failure to provide adequate health services to communities.
Samatu called out health authorities after interns affiliated to the trade union were not taken in because of frozen vacancies.
Last month, the Department of Health said it had successfully completed new intakes for all eligible medical interns and community service applicants on Internship and Community Service Programme (ICSP) for the next annual intake scheduled to commence in January 2023.
The Department said 2 402 internship and 7 425 community services applicants were successfully allocated in the public health sector as part of the last phase of their academic programme.
“The final results of allocation will be signed-off and sent to Provincial Departments of Health, South African Military Health Services and Department of Correctional Services for further processing and finalization which entails issuing of appointment letters to successful applicants,” said the Department.
However, Samatu’s Secretary General, Dr Cedric Sihlangu said there are 328 community service doctors who reached out to the union and the majority are from KwaZulu-Natal followed by the Eastern Cape who have not been taken in for internship.
“SAMATU is concerns that they have submitted various applications for absorption post their community service year which is their third year after graduation. The doctors would do two years of internship and one year of community service and after that they are independent practitioners and they can work anywhere.
“In this instance they had sent out their application at various state facilities and would receive responses that the posts are frozen.
“There are various health facilities throughout the country that are understaffed. You find some clinics and district level hospitals having two to three doctors who are meant to cover both the day and night shift which is a full 24-hour cover.
“These doctors get very exhausted and burned out and this impacts on service delivery because you find very long queues that don’t seem to move in the hospitals.
The vulnerable people who want to use the services are short-changed in a way because they are not getting the type of healthcare they deserve. We do know that healthcare is a fundamental right and the government’s failure to absorb these interns is actually a failure to provide adequate health to our communities,” he added.
The union also said the decision to freeze vacancies will put more pressure on the overburdened public health systems with patients now expected to wait months for surgeries.
The Gauteng Health Department said there are over 11 000 people on the waiting list for surgeries.
