Despite the pressure and workload that doctors in the country are facing, the health department says they won't be able to absorb more doctors into the system.This comes after 225 intern doctors will be completing their community service in January and are facing the possibility of being unemployed.The vice-chairperson and spokesman of the South African Medical Association Dr Mvuyisi Mzukwa said this very factor was forcing doctors to seek employment overseas.

TRAINED TO SERVE OTHER COUNTRIES

He said this meant South African doctors are being trained to serve other countries and not their own despite the fact that there is a shortage of their skill in the country. "That's not what we're seeing now, for the past few years we've been seeing doctors finishing community service, getting unemployed, they just go abroad - this tells me we are training for other countries." Mzukwa said they plan on taking legal action against the Health Department because this is not the first time they fail to place doctors after they complete their internships."Members have been told that there is no money to pay them after they are hired, which is unacceptable given the pressure that doctors are facing in public hospitals."

ONGOING PROBLEM

The union's secretary-general, Cedric Sihlangu, said," You have a few doctors who are currently in the public sector who are severely overworked and they end up being burned out, being exhausted. We are seeing a lot of mental health issues coming up among our population of doctors because of the work environment."Sihlangu said there is a high influx of patients in hospitals yet there is a limited number of doctors to receive them.Between December 2020 and January 2021 the same incident happened leaving 146 doctors with no jobs.This seems to be annual thing that the department isn't finding a solution to.