RUSTENBURG HERALD - RUSTENBURG - It is a sad state of affairs in our beautiful country, when more than 200 doctors that have successfully completed their internships have yet to be placed for community service.
The Internship and Community Service Programme (ICSP) simply states that there are no open positions when probed for information and assistance.
This contradicts the Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla’s statement in February 2024 that “as of now, all those graduates who were eligible for internship placement, have been placed.
Equally, all those who finished the internship and were eligible to start community service have been placed.”
The current national vacancy rate for medical officers, as revealed in a written parliamentary statement, listed vacancies of medical professionals in the Free State at 23.7%, KwaZulu-Natal at 20.37% and North West at 22%. The national average vacancy rate for nurses is 14.7%, 24.36% for psychologists, and 41.89% for psychiatrists (excluding Gauteng).
The insufficient number of trained medical professionals in hospitals around the country, has a certain negative impact on the public’s need for health services. The 2024 National List of Occupations in High Demand listed general medical practitioners, resident medical officers, emergency medicine specialists, and general medicine specialist physicians at the top of the list. The woes of the South African public continue, with the list also including speciality nurses and clinical psychologists.
The severe staff shortages due to budget cuts, have a tremendous impact on the delivery of health services, leaving both patients and the medical professionals treating them, vulnerable to deteriorating physical and mental health.
