Independent Media reports that the Democratic Alliance (DA) has called on the Department of Health to urgently come forward with a clear plan to address the chronic challenges preventing the efficient placement of community service doctors.

“We have been inundated with various concerns by many community service doctors and interns throughout the year. Many have not been placed, are awaiting placement or have been placed in locations where families need to be separated,” DA MP Haseena Ismail said. She made the comments amid media reports that more than 200 qualified medical graduates were still waiting for jobs. Ismail pointed out that the government had used the lack of funds as an additional excuse for not absorbing qualified doctors into the system, yet it had spent close to R1 billion on a 10-year-long agreement deploying Cuban health practitioners to SA. This emerged in a written response by acting Health Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane to questions from the DA about the costs and employment of Cubans. “Given the money spent on Cuban doctors, government cannot use this poor excuse (lack of funds). It also knew exactly how many and by when these doctors would have graduated… The department must prioritise the absorption of community service doctors and interns as soon as possible as they can play a crucial role in the fight against Covid,” Ismail said.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Mayibongwe Maqhina at Independent Media

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