TimesLIVE reports that Gauteng's Department of Health (DOH) advised on Thursday that more than 50 intern and community service doctors who were not paid salaries for January would get their money by 22 February.
The SA Medical Association Trade Union (Samatu) raised the alarm on Wednesday, saying it had received reports that at least 48 interns, 14 community service doctors and several doctors under Covid-19 contracts in the province had not been paid. The union said they worked 40 hours a week and put in more than 80 hours of overtime a month, but, after not being paid, some did not have money for transport to their workplaces or to put food on the table. Explaining what had gone wrong, DOH spokesperson Kwara Kekana said there had been some delays in doctors getting Health Professions Council of SA registrations. “A secondary circumstance relates to the availability of posts, to accommodate the doctors placed within the province by the national department of health. The latter was compounded by a lack of budget, in the January 2021 to March 2021 period, due to an unforeseen increased allocation of medical interns,” said Kekana. She advised that the department had managed to secure the required funding for the outstanding cohort and it was envisaged that all medical intern appointments would be concluded by 17 February, which would enable them to receive their salaries on 22 February. The DA in Gauteng said the doctors should be paid immediately.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Ernest Mabuza at TimesLIVE
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