Eighty-four foreign-trained young doctors take minister, council to court

A group of 84 frustrated foreign-trained medical graduates are taking the Health Professionals Council of South Africa (HPCSA) and the minister of health to court over what they claim to be the HPCSA’s unlawful denial to allow them to write the October/November 2018 board examination.

This prevents them from getting community service training and disqualifies them from working in South Africa as professional doctors.

The graduates, represented by the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), graduated in 2017. They explained they were suffering from anxiety and depression as a result of ongoing unemployment.

Another graduate said being denied the opportunity to write the board examination has placed financial strain on her and her parents, who are self-employed. If she is unable to write in May, she will be financially prejudiced as she has student loans to pay off.

An applicant who graduated from the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Medical College at the University of Mauritius said when she tried to apply to write the board exam, she was informed she was not entitled to do so because she had not completed her internship in Mauritius.

“I am advised that it is not a requirement … quite the opposite, in fact – it is passing the board examination that entitles one to do internship in South Africa.

“Other applicants were provisionally enrolled to write in October/November, but were denied on the basis the 120-person limit had been reached,” she wrote.

Director of the LRC Sharita Samuels said she has been unable to confirm the reason for the HPCSA’s refusal to allow the graduates to write the board exam.

“The unfortunate consequence is that citizens continue to suffer from a lack of medical professional services, while the department of health appears to be rejecting a significant resource that the graduates represent.”

HPCSA president Dr Kgosi Letlape said he would only be in a position to comment once the court papers had been served by the applicants or their lawyers.

National department of health spokesperson Popo Maja said the department of health was confident the HPCSA had the capacity to handle the litigation.

– news@citizen.co.za

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