Question NW888 to the Minister of Health
07 October 2019 - NW888
Singh, Mr N to ask the Minister of Health
(1)Whether he has been informed of the allegations of corruption and racism at the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) regarding South African medical doctors who have foreign qualifications and who upon their return to the Republic find it difficult to engage with the HPCSA regarding the recognition of their foreign qualifications and to write their medical board exams (details furnished); if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details;
Reply:
- (a) No, I have not been informed of the allegations as stated above as the HPCSA management has only been made aware of the allegations of racism at a recent meeting held with representatives of some of these medical graduates;
b) The HPCSA has since advised the representatives to submit these allegations to the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) as they have a broad investigation by the SIU on similar allegations made against the HPCSA in general, as proclaimed by the President of the Republic;
c) The Registrar has since informed the SIU of these allegations and the representatives have been put into contact with the SIU;
d) The HPCSA, represented amongst others by the President and Registrar, has engaged extensively with the foreign qualified medical graduates, their parents and their lawyers at various levels, either at meetings both in Pretoria and Durban, as well as several email correspondences over the last few months; and
e) In assisting the foreign-qualified medical graduates, the HPCSA has arranged a new examination process that can accommodate more of the foreign-qualified medical graduates and more than 250 of these graduates have registered and have participated in these exams during the month of September 2019.
(2) Yes, in due course I will call a meeting between the department and Mr N Singh and representatives of the South African foreign qualified medical professionals. In the meantime, meetings between the representatives of the foreign-qualified medical graduates and the HPCSA have already taken place over the last few months. At the last meeting some agreements were reached, and a proposal has been made to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the HPCSA and the representatives of the foreign-qualified medical graduates so that rules of engagement could be developed and agreement be reached on how to address pertinent questions as they arise.
END.