Unemployed doctors are urging South African government to rework their budget as hundreds of unemployed healthcare workers remain unemployed.
IOL spoke to Dr Siyaneliswa Shozi on the matter. Shozi, who completed his community service in March 2023 and is the spokesperson for the unemployed doctors, was at the forefront of Monday’s march to the department.
Shozi said the march was to highlight frustrations over the scarce posts available for doctors and bemoaned the lack of budget from the Department of Health.
“We are calling for the employment of all doctors and allied healthcare workers who are available to help our Public Health Sector,” Shozi said.
“The government must rework their budget to accommodate all Post Comm Serve (post-community service) doctors who are willing to work in government, and the Minister of Health must work on making sure that all resources needed to work are made available.”
While Health Minister Joe Phaahla recently highlighted an increase in employment of medical doctors, Shozi said it’s not enough.
“The comment by Dr Joe Phaahla is one which saddens us as the unemployed doctors, as these increases were obviously not enough. You cannot be training 2,400 doctors every year, but not be prepared to employ them. They are showing us how out of touch they are with planning and management of their human resource department,” Shozi said.
“You cannot tell a hungry child that they should be happy for food when they are still not full. Similarly, you cannot tell South Africans that they should rejoice at an increase when their needs are not being met.”
He described life as an unemployed doctor a “very hard one”.
“We are relied on by our family and those families must now go hungry, we have to sell our cars and apartments that we were paying for because we can no longer afford them and some of us have to move back home,” he said.
“Some colleagues are facing the stress and loneliness of unemployment while bearing the social pressure of being a doctor. It is mentally exhausting and financially draining.”
While unemployed doctors are urging action from the government, medical students are also calling on members of the public, alumni of University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and potential donors to contribute to the ‘I made a doctor’ campaign.
The campaign is a non-profit crowdfunding initiative founded by students for students. They are fundraising for those on the verge of financial exclusion by the institution.
“Our curriculum involves clinical teaching and training, which commences mid-January every year,” said fifth year medical student Nabeelah Jacobs.
“With registration deadlines less than two weeks away, we need to stand united to make sure we are all granted an opportunity to serve our communities in a student capacity. Many of our colleagues have already lost out on invaluable teaching time as a result of registration issues.
“Having come this far in our medical student careers, we feel motivated to finish our degrees strong but for many of us, we are held back by financial hardship. Every year is a stepping stone to fulfilling our dreams and being a voice for those who need it,” Jacobs said.
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