Question NW1942 to the Minister of Home Affairs
05 August 2022 - NW1942
Clarke, Ms M to ask the Minister of Home Affairs
What are the reasons that (a) nurses and (b) specialist medical personnel have been left out of the critical skills list, considering the high number of vacancies in the regards?
Reply:
(a) and (b)
The Critical Skills List was Published on 2 February 2022 with a detailed Technical Report by the Department of Higher Education and Training that provided a detailed methodology used to include and exclude certain occupations.
Subsequent to the publication of the final Critical Skills List 2022 of 2 February 2022, the Minister of Home Affairs received substantive representations from stakeholders within the health sector, including associations and organisations such as the Hospital Association of South Africa (HASA), motivating for the re-inclusion of certain Medical Specialist occupations into the List.
Following a high level meeting between the Minister of Home Affairs, senior officials from the National Department of Health, representatives from the Nursing Council and the Health Professional Council of South Africa (HPCSA) a resolution was taken to amend the Critical Skills List published earlier this year to include Specialist Nurses and Medical Personnel.
The Critical Skills List was gazetted by the Minister of Home Affairs on 02 August 2022 and is inclusive of both Nurses and Specialist Medical Personnel as listed from the Occupation number 102 to 133 in the gazette.
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