Mismanagement abounds
Many qualified SA doctors who have completed their internships and community service still cannot find jobs in public hospitals where there is a desperate need for their skills.
Minister of Health Dr Joe Phaahla has revealed that 2 012 unfunded and vacant posts are available to medical doctors and allied health professionals in all nine provinces across SA.
The government needs R2,4 billion to fill these posts. The departments of Health, Finance and Treasury are working together to find financial solutions to fill these posts urgently.
The critically under-staffed health system is depriving all citizens of professional and quality healthcare.
The crisis is due to a limited Health budget, poor planning and insufficient funds allocated to Health’s human resources department to recruit new personnel.
Millions of rands are spent on wasteful expenditure as the department fights medical cases that were a result of negligence and incorrect medical procedures.
Many specialists get frustrated in the public hospitals due to bureaucracy, damaged equipment and inadequate facilities.
They eventually resign and go into private practice or emigrate, which is a loss to our public sector and the SA Revenue Services.
The Minister of Basic Education revealed in Parliament recently that there are 31400 vacant teaching posts across the country.
These vacant teaching posts have led to overcrowding in classrooms and have made the quality of teaching and learning drop.
The question often arises: why, after 30 of democracy, is the infrastructure and the facilities in our public schools still limited?
An attractive salary, with benefits of a car allowance and a housing subsidy could attract teachers to rural schools.
If there are teachers who provide teaching of a high standard in the rural areas, this would prevent the excessive movement of pupils to urban schools.
Overcrowding is evident in classrooms, with about 70 pupils to one teacher. We still have Grade 4 pupils who cannot read for meaning.
Poor infrastructure and inadequate facilities are still evident in rural schools, with the pit latrine system still being used by both teachers and pupils.
The minister of Basic Education needs to do a forensic investigation and have a serious discussion with her panel of advisers who must go back to the drawing board and find some sustainable solution within a fixed time frame.
Come May 29, the departments of Health and Education will be under full scrutiny by discerning voters, who will decide on a party of their choice, looking at how they performed in the past five years.