Hiring of Cuban doctors slammed

SA Medical Association says posts could have gone to locals.

Call for state to review human resource policies for health department.

Is temporarily hiring 187 Cuban doctors instead of filling scores of vacant doctors’ posts in the public health sector still worth it? The South African Medical Association (Sama) doesn’t think so.

Provinces are expected to request extensions for the foreign doctors’ deployment as their original term is coming to an end in April.

But a recent spate of staff shortages at public hospitals amid a second wave of Covid-19 infections has raised questions over whether government was wise to spend R239 million on a handful of pandemic-experienced doctors when scant medical staff in public facilities were overworked and falling ill frequently.

“We haven’t seen much positive impact these doctors are making as far as we know from those who have been at the forefront of this pandemic, but we do know that there have been some complaints about the language barrier, said Sama spokeswoman Angelique Coetzee.

Doctors are still insistent on the need for the government to review its human resource policies for the health department.

“The national department needs to go back to the drawing board when it comes to the structure of the organogram regarding recruitment for funded and unfunded posts.”

Coetzee said the association wanted an audit of all funded and unfunded posts that were vacant and an end to the supposed moratorium on filling new posts at the department.

According to national department of health spokesman Popo Maja, the Cuban doctors are still deployed until April.

“Should provinces require extensions of their stay, they will have to make a submission to the department with qualified evidence.”

The new year ushered in a spike in Covid-19 cases which began in November. This was followed by reports of a shortage of hospital beds, oxygen points and ventilators in public healthcare institutions across the country.

Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria was forced to erect overflow tents where some patients were treated because of the unavailability of beds.

Last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that government intended to fill all vacant posts in a bid to strengthen the public health response to Covid-19. To this, healthcare industry union Nehawu said the recruitment process should include the permanent employment of community healthcare workers.

The union also wanted government to consult trade unions in the filling of posts as they were aware of critical positions which required urgent attention.

We haven’t seen much impact these doctors are making