The South African Medical Association (SAMA) says that the government is setting up the country’s healthcare sector to fail by not hiring or training enough doctors or nurses and other healthcare professionals.
Responding to comments made by health minister Joe Phaahla this week that the country currently has a doctor-to-patient ratio of onlySAMA chairperson Dr Mvuyisi Mzukwa said that the figure lays bare South Africa’s healthcare problem – where the sector is understaffed, overworked, and money meant for equipment or patient care is funnelled elsewhere.
“Healthcare professionals are exhausted. We’re post-pandemic, or still dealing with the pandemic, but we’ve been through this for two years,” Mzukwa said. “They are incapacitated. Instead, you get lip service from the health minister, calling them ‘frontline warriors’ – but who is supporting them? Who is capacitating them?”
“Progress has been made with regards to the stability in the employment of more than 47,000 community health workers, even though more work still needs to be done to finalise the nature of their long-term engagement,” he said. Health stakeholders have previously raised concerns about the number of healthcare professionals in the country, warning that South Africa could see an exodus of doctors and other key medical personnel ahead of the planned introduction of the NHI scheme.
It added that the complex interactions between training, registration compliance and employment can all be substantially improved.To compound matters, health industry experts warned in March that the country could see an exodus of doctors and other key medical personnel ahead of the planned introduction of the National Health Insurance scheme.warned that thousands of doctors will leave the country ahead of the planned introduction of the NHI.
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