Deployment of out-of-work doctors and other health professionals

THE prevailing circumstances affecting healthcare services are unique, never experienced in the past, and will need healthcare administrators and hospital managers to put their heads together and develop a solid plan of how to deal with the situation.

The first thing necessary is to gather information of how many doctors are there in each province that have been unemployed since completing all their training requirements including housemanship.

It is also important to know if there are others who must still be placed in various hospitals for housemanship, because there was a time when there was no money to pay for housemanship. The number of nurses of all categories who have also been unemployed, including those whose contracts were abruptly terminated because of lack of funds, must also be considered.

While all these discussions are under way, it must be borne in mind that the nature of healthcare demands full-time employment for all categories of health professionals, for the following reasons: they must be afforded an opportunity to grow in their careers by gathering experience and undergoing further training and development in their chosen areas of specialisation - very important in building a progressive and diversified health care service.

Another important reason is that health professionals must be able to build a future for themselves and should therefore be in a position to start building pension funds for their later years in life. All these commitments can only be fulfilled by those in stable fulltime employment.

These engagements should have taken place in preparation for an orderly deployment of all health professionals that were without employment.

There are other categories of health professionals that would also have to be considered for employment: social workers, radiographers and rediologists, opthalmologists, dentists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and dietitians.

If there is a shortage of nurses after hospitals where there is the greatest need for young and energetic nurses, the use of healthy retired nurses on renewable contracts can be considered for clinics. COMETH DUBE-MAKHOLWA | Midrand