The South African Medical Association (Sama) has threatened to take legal action against the Department of Health (DoH), the Acting Minister of Health, Mmamoloko Kubayi, and the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) if 288 medical interns were not placed in hospitals.
According to the association, legal papers served on the Health Department, Kubayi, and the HPCSA on Friday (July 2) demanded immediate allocation of medical interns and a written undertaking that the 288 interns would not be penalised or disadvantaged by the delays in placing them.
The association has given the department, Kubayi, and HPCSA until Friday (July 9) to comply with their demand.
According to the association, the demand to have the 288 medical interns placed stems from the ongoing failure by the DoH, Kubayi, and the HPCSA to ensure the interns, who graduated in March and April, were placed at public health-care institutions to complete their compulsory community service.
The association said once this internship was completed, medical interns can register as medical practitioners. "All of the 288 interns fulfil the necessary criteria and are eligible for placement," it said.
Sama chairperson Angelique Coetzee said: “We have exhausted every possible avenue to get this resolved, and we must now, unfortunately, turn to the courts for relief for these 288 interns because their futures hang in the balance. The failure of the DoH, the acting minister, and the HPCSA to release allocations, and provide funding for these posts, is a violation of their legal obligations."
Coetzee said by failing to place the medical interns, the department, Kubayi, and the HPCSA are in contravention of Section 22 of the Constitution and of the Health Professions Act that determines that all these role-players have a statutory obligation to ensure placement of interns to complete their community service which will enable them to register as health-care professionals in South Africa.
“At the beginning of June, the Department of Health undertook to release allocations before 1 July, but this has not happened. In the meantime, hospitals were unable to accept new patients because there are no available beds, and doctors who are currently working are facing mental and physical burnout from working extraordinarily long hours. We have to take up the cause for these interns because their placement is in the best interests of everybody, including patients,” said Coetzee.
“We have been left with no alternatives. For the sake of these interns, and for those who will be following them in the months ahead, we need to resolve these issues once and for all. We cannot abide by a situation where our country desperately needs health-care professionals but where the government does not place those who are qualified to help,” Coetzee said.
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