Battle for foreign trained doctors

FOREIGN-trained medical graduates face another obstacle in their bid to secure internship locally.

Last year, more than 200 would-be doctors, who graduated abroad and sought to complete their internship in South Africa, were informed they were unable to sit for the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) board examination. The council’s decision was in accordance with a regulation implemented on February 2, last year, despite being in existence from 2009.

The regulation stated that graduates would not be able to write the exam unless they had completed their internships in their country of study.

However, that proved impossible for the graduates of universities in China, Mauritius, Russia and India, due to those countries own rules and regulations.

Kapil Sevnaran, 26, of Scottburgh, who spent about R700 000 to study at the Shandong University in China, took the HPCSA to court in the same month, appealing the decision, and won.

However, Sevnaran said months later about 25 foreign-trained graduates, including himself, had written and passed the exam in October, but were now struggling to obtain internship.

They claim that they are being given the run-around by the Department of Health.

Sevnaran said he had applied to five hospitals through the Internship Community Service Programme, an online application system regulated by the department, before even writing his exams but was not allocated a post.

“When we contacted the department, we were informed they were not going to appoint any foreign-trained graduates, and that they did not have funding to accommodate us,” he claimed.

Sevnaran said he had even resorted to working part-time at a roof truss factory.

“It’s over a year-and-a-half since I graduated. I understood at first that it was important that I write the HPCSA exam before working but now that it has been completed, I am faced with yet another battle.

“It is unfair, especially since I am a South African citizen but, instead, I feel I am being treated like a second-class citizen. The country is in such a dire need for health care staff, and this is the way the department treats those that want to help and serve their country.”

Another graduate, who studied in China, said when he contacted the department he was informed that allocations had already been completed in October and that foreign graduates had not met the deadline.

“We don’t believe that there had been any deadline, and how is it possible that the local students were allocated posts even before qualifying?

“When I spoke to a friend, who was appointed a post at a local hospital, he told me there were at least three open posts as those students that been allocated did not pass. So why can’t one of us be allocated one of those posts?”

The 27-year-old said it was a daily struggle as he waited to start his life.

“After studying for many years, and seeing old school classmates start their lives, I am still waiting to secure an internship.

“It’s extremely frustrating and heartbreaking. Also being financially unstable is stressful as both my parents are unemployed…”

A third graduate, who studied in Mauritius, said she was drowning in

student loan debt, and had to do administrative work to try to pay it off.

“It is one nightmare after another. We are being misled by the department. The minister had announced last year that there were going to be thousands of healthcare posts available, but yet we are being turned away.

“Furthermore, a couple of weeks ago on the news, he said those not allocated internship should contact him directly. But there has been no response to our emails or calls to the office, so what do we do next? It is unfair and unconstitutional,” said the 25-year-old from Joburg.