More than 200 unemployed doctors given jobs: Phaahla

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Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla has told Parliament that by Tuesday this week, more than 200 unemployed doctors had received their appointment letters. He says this follows an additional R3.7 billion allocation to the department during the February national budget, for the recruitment and compensation of health workers. Phaahla was answering oral questions in the National Assembly.

Phaahla was grilled by Members of Parliament about the plight of the unemployed doctors. Recently, some of the unemployed doctors took to the streets demanding to be employed in the public sector. Phaahla says all provinces have now advertised vacant positions that were frozen.

“Just over 800, who have submitted their details, around 270 those have already received appointment letters. We are quite certain by the time we reach the end of the month most of it, if not all of those who will be done,”

Some MPs pressed Phaahla on the number of doctors that will be employed as data indicates that hundreds are unemployed.

“I want to know the exact number of doctors that your department plans to hire in 2024/ 2025 with the allocated budget for recruitment and the time frame,” says IFP MP Duduzile Hlengwa.

The Minister says out of the 2 200 doctors who completed their community service, he doesn’t know how many want to work in the public sector.

“What we then depend on it’s only when you advertise a post and somebody submits an application. We have already, over 100 positions in all provinces, how many takers we don’t know.”

He added that the target for the employment of these doctors is before the end of this financial year. And that the allocation is also for the compensation of nurses, pharmacists and other health workers.