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Sunday Tribune reports that the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) has denied allegations that it deliberately frustrated and placed unnecessary impediments in the path of overseas-trained South African doctors attempting integration into the local medical fraternity.
The allegations were raised by the SA Internationally Trained Health Professionals Association (Saithpa), on behalf of the affected doctors. The Saithpa, on various occasions, has secured high court orders in its favour over some of the HPCSA’s methods of operations. The NPO’s latest allegations centre on the HPCSA’s administration of its board exams and doctors’ rights to access their exam scripts. HPCSA communications manager Priscilla Sekhonyana said they had never disallowed either the viewing or remarking of exam scripts, but this had to be done in accordance with the rules and availability of time by the examining institution. Sekhonyana denied that the HPCSA was in the business of fleecing money from applicants and practitioners. Asked about the Saithpa’s claim that practitioners faced unnecessary delays and hurdles regarding the vetting of qualifications of doctors who attempted integration locally, even endorsement from the Education Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG), Sekhonyana said foreign-qualified applicants were not entitled for automatic registration with the HPCSA and the training they receive abroad needed to be assessed for equivalence. The ECFMG only helped with the authentication of an institution. Sekhonyana acknowledged that the HPCSA systems and processes sometimes posed challenges, but said no malice was intended.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Mervyn Naidoo at Sunday Tribune
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