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The Star reports that budget cuts and the shortage of specialist nurses have left some of the country’s hospitals with hundreds of unfilled critical posts. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has blamed these two factors for the high number of vacant posts at the Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital in Ga-Rankuwa, Pretoria.
There are 544 vacancies at that hospital, with 357 of these are for nursing professionals and clinical professionals. A further 79 posts are for health professionals such as dietitians, medical technologists, radiographers and respiratory therapists, while the remaining 108 vacancies at the hospital are for support and administrative staff. Mkhize provided this information in a reply to a parliamentary question. He commented: “Some of the reasons … include a recurring challenge of limited skills of specialised nurses categories in the country. The recruitment of clinicians is also a challenge as some of the candidates prefer to work in other academic and tertiary institutions like Steve Biko Academic Hospital.” Lerato Mthunzi, president of the Young Nurses Indaba Trade Union claimed that the unfilling of posts was not a George Mukhari problem alone, but a widespread issue. Sibongiseni Delihlazo of the Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA said they “made noise all the time” about vacant public health posts. “The picture is likely to get even gloomier over the next four years. Treasury is committed not to fill vacant positions in the public sector as their way of managing what they call this bloated public sector wage bill,” he noted. Delihlazo cautioned against concluding that all unfilled nurse posts were for specialists: “It’s not that nurses are not willing to take up specialist courses … many applications are declined on the basis of staff shortages (in their workplace).”
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Bongani Nkosi at The Star
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page