Doctors ‘are not special’: Motsoaledi under fire for comments on unemployed doctors

Minister of Health Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has been lambasted for telling South Africa’s unemployed doctors to seek employment in the private sector or anywhere in the world.

Motsoaledi was responding to a recent protest by unemployed doctors in Bhisho in the Eastern Cape who were demanding employment from the department.

“We agree that there is a shortage of doctors in the country but we don’t have money to employ them. They cannot be given preferential treatment because the country has a problem with unemployment,” Motsoaledi said on Thrusday.

‘We don’t have money to employ unemployed doctors’

“To employ someone, you need to know how to pay them. There is a shortage of doctors around the world, that we know.”

He said once doctors had done their internship and community service they were not entitled to be “absorbed” by the state and they could work anywhere in the world or private sector.

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However, South African Medical Association Trade Union (Samatu) general secretary Cedric Sihlangu said it was shocking to hear a minister encouraging doctors to leave the country.

“It is disheartening to hear suggestions that these doctors are independent practitioners and should pivot to private practice or seek employment abroad, especially being uttered by the minister of health,” Sihlangu said.

Govt failing to understand urgency and gravity of challenges

“This is proof that our leaders, cushioned by the privilege of accessing top-tier private healthcare, fail to understand the urgency and gravity of these challenges. It is also troubling that the minister would make such reckless statements while his office is actively working on implementing the National Health Insurance (NHI).”

“In just a day, Samatu has documented more than 400 doctors who have completed their community service and remain unemployed. This number is still increasing.

“We have over the years engaged the national department of health to highlight the dire consequences that the department’s lack of strategy in retaining doctors after community service has on the public health system of our country.”

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Through a spokesperson, Dr Philisiwe Ngcai, the protesting doctors vowed to “protest until our demands are met”.

Figures show that there are 500 unemployed doctors in the country.

No automatic absorption for qualified doctors

National health department spokesperson Foster Mohale said: “Once doctors complete their internship and community service, they become independent doctors, meaningfully qualified to see patients without supervision, thus they can decide to apply for work in the private and public sectors. There is no automatic absorption for qualified doctors like other professions or health categories.

“Though the government is doing everything possible to improve access to quality health care by recruiting more doctors and other health professionals, the challenge is the budget to recruit as many as we want.”

When asked about Motsoaledi’s comments that unemployed doctors would not be given preferential treatment, he said the minister was trying to explain unemployment affects all professions.

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But, Sihlangu said, it was inarguable that a significant number of the doctors hail from rural communities, pursuing medicine with the earnest intent of returning to serve their communities.

Malwandle Mukansi, a qualified medical doctor from Elimu, near Makhado in Limpopo, said he felt discouraged when the minister said there was no money to employ the doctors.

Unemployed doctor’s story

“After I completed my bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery degree at the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, I was placed at Mkangkweng Hospital and also at Polokwane Provincial Hospital for a year,” Mukansi said.

“I later finalised my community service training. Last year, we were told that after our training, we were going to be placed in different hospitals, but that never happened.

“When we enquired, we were told that only 50 vacancies were advertised, while there are more than 400 unemployed doctors.”

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“Almost all the graduates that studied together are unemployed. I completed my studies in 2021, while there are those who completed before me who are still unemployed.

“It is painful waking up in the morning just sitting at home while knowing that the country needs your service. I am just praying that I get a job because at home I am expected to assist my mother in raising my two siblings who are 11 and 12,” Mukansi said.

Dire need

A 25-year-old doctor from the Eastern Cape, who preferred anonymity, pleaded with the government to employ them because there was a dire need for doctors in the public sector.

“After completing my studies, I underwent all the necessary further training and during that time I realised that there is a serious need for doctors.

“Most of the currently employed doctors are operating under pressure. Surely one cannot expect to be treated by a tired doctor?”

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