Medical interns finally receive their pay cheques
Medical interns, community service professionals and student nurses, during the welcoming ceremony held by the Department of Health recently. Picture: Supplied
After going two months without pay, Gauteng Department of Health medical interns have received their pay cheques after legal action was threatened.
Recently there were media reports of the failure of the government-run health-care system to pay the salaries of several medical interns at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital.
According to the DA’s Jack Bloom, there were 10 unpaid interns at the hospital who did invaluable work in 12-hour shifts, but things were getting desperate as some of them were going hungry and didn’t have money for transport.
“I have lost so much weight because I'm starving. We don’t even have food,” the intern said.
Senior doctors at the hospital stepped in to help the unpaid interns from their own pockets.
The Freedom Advocacy Network (FAN) said on Monday that it had instructed its legal team to take action on behalf of medical interns and reached out to young South Africans across the country who faced the same problem as the interns.
“For any employer to abuse an employee is shameful. For the government of the country to do this to young South Africans trying to help others in the health sector is nothing short of a disgrace,” Tiego Thotse of FAN said.
The Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) announced that out of the 56 medical interns who were yet to be paid their January and February salaries, 53 have been paid as of Monday. Department spokesperson Kwara Kekana said the other three interns’ appointment process was still under way subject to the conclusion of the administrative issues.
“The GDoH has 429 medical internship positions that are funded annually. However, the National Department of Health has historically allocated interns in excess of the baseline allocated budget that the GDoH has. For 2022, there were an additional 203 interns that were allocated by the National Department of Health to the province,” Kekana said.
She added that this meant that the department had to first confirm additional full funding for any excess interns allocated to the province.
“This unfortunately results in delays in payments to some of the interns. The GDoH continuously engages all parties involved to ensure there is better planning, and that staff are not negatively affected. We extend our apology to all medical interns who have been affected by the delays in payment of their salaries,” Kekana said.
FAN said it shared the relief of the medical interns who had finally received their salaries from the government.
“FAN is proud to have played its part in swiftly and effectively generating pressure on the government to do the right thing and stop its abuse of these young South Africans.
“This victory for the freedom to earn is satisfying, but there are many other challenges and fights where FAN will get involved to get this sort of result,” said Hermann Pretorius of FAN.
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