Question NW636 to the Minister of Health
17 March 2022 - NW636
Clarke, Ms M to ask the Minister of Health
(1)What number of (a)(i) doctors and (ii) nurses who have completed their (aa) degrees, (bb) period of internships and (cc) community services have been placed in state hospitals to provide health care and (b) the specified doctors and nurses have not been placed and are currently unemployed; (2) what (a) is the budget for placing (i) doctors and (ii) nurses in the healthcare system and (b) are the short comings of the budget in order to realise the placements in each case?
Reply:
1. (a)(i)(aa) The total number of doctors who were confirmed as having met the requirements of completing their degrees in December 2021 that made them eligible for medical internship for January 2022 are 2 419;
(a)(ii)(aa) The total number of Nurses who were confirmed as having met the requirements of completing their degrees in December 2021 that made them eligible for community service for January 2022 are 3 196;
(a)(bb) The total number of Interns who have completed their medical degrees and were eligible to be placed for medical internship in the Annual 2022 cycle are 2 419;
(a)(cc) The total number of community service doctors who have completed their medical internship and were eligible to be placed for community service doctors in the Annual 2022 cycle are 2 155.
(b) A total of 43 Medical Community Service doctors, 10 Medical Interns and 12 Community Services Nurses were placed, respectively into positions. However, they have since rejected their placements due to various reasons and therefore remain unemployed.
(b)(i)(ii)The budget for placing Interns and Community service Doctors and Nurses in the healthcare system have since increased from the year 2016 baseline with 75%, making the budget demand to be R 4 898 440 063.00 p/a. The increased numbers demanding additional positions for placements, are due to returning medical students who studied in Cuba through the Nelson Mandela Fidel Castro (NMFC) Programme and additional intakes by local Universities, (b) the National Department of Health, had to approach National Treasury to introduce new funding as Human Resources Training Grant (HRTG) to cover the shortfalls as Provincial Departments of Health were unable to the shortfalls demands within their equitable share budgets.
END.