20 new doctors join KwaZulu-Natal's public health sector as recruitment for 100 more continues

While 20 newly employed doctors in KwaZulu-Natal will be celebrating their third permanent monthly salary from the provincial Health Department after years of being jobless, others are still holding their breaths, hoping to be employed on the finalisation of the recruitment process for 100 posts. 

The department first advertised 20 vacant doctors’ posts in June and also advertised 100 others in August. 

“We are pleased to announce that the first group of 20 doctors has been successfully recruited and already commenced their duties,” said Acting Head of the Department Penny Msimango in a statement released on Thursday.

“This took us time because there were too many applications,” said Msimango.

The department released the statement after being inundated with inquiries from concerned members of the public and applicants, including unemployed doctors who did not benefit from the 20 posts and who are now looking forward to benefiting from the 100 posts.

The department has been accused of moving “too slowly” in finalising the recruitment process and also not giving an update. 

Msimango told the department’s online TV station that when the 100 posts were advertised, more than 4,000 applications were received.

“We are busy with another set of 100 doctors to be employed, since we have too many applications, it is fair that we do justice by going through each application, checking if each applicant meets the requirements, which requires time to complete. 

“But we can assure that this work will be completed, and we expect to finalise this by December 1,” said Msimango. 

Before the department advertised the posts, there were more than 200 unemployed medicine graduates who, since last year, protested several times in Pietermaritzburg, demanding employment at the public healthcare institutions.

They even set up a temporary healthcare station in front of the Natalia Building, the provincial Health headquarters, to provide free medical treatment to the public as part of expressing their frustration. 

The fortunate doctors, who cannot be named due to contract clauses prohibiting them from speaking to the media, said their employment had restored hope for a bright future, which they had lost. 

“I still cannot believe that I am now a practising doctor after being unemployed for more than a year after completing my community service. 

“My family members are still celebrating that they now have a real doctor among them,” said the doctor, who studied through a government bursary.

However, those who are still unemployed have accused the provincial Health Department of having prioritised those studied through its bursary scheme while leaving those who paid for their studies when filling the 20 posts. 

The 20 new medical officers, who were selected from among more than 4,000 applicants, had been deployed to eThekwini, Harry Gwala, King Cetshwayo, Ugu, uMgungundlovu, uThukela, and Zululand districts. 

However, their union, the South African Medical Association Trade Union (SAMATU), was ignorant that the 20 posts had already been filled and that successful candidates were already hard at work. 

SAMATU provincial chairperson Dr Phumelele Khumalo believed that no doctor had been employed since the posts were advertised, and she blamed the department for the delay.

 “No one appointed as yet,” said Khumalo. 

One of the unemployed doctors said some of the applicants were only informed on Tuesday this week that they had been shortlisted for the 100 posts. 

In August, Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane announced that 270 new posts, 150 doctors, and 120 nursing staff would be advertised “in the coming week”.  

Being employed at the public institution, according to Khumalo, was important because that is where they could be trained to be specialist medical practitioners, as the private sector was not allowed to offer this training.  

The department is not out of the hood, as another 1,000 doctors, who will be completing their one-year community service, will become unemployed.   

“This is going to add to those who are still unemployed, which is the cycle that would never stop,” said Khumalo.

She said some of the unemployed doctors were now thinking about becoming general practitioners (GPs), but this was impossible because opening a business required money, which many of them did not have. 

“If you cannot get employment from the government, becoming a GP is another option,” she said.

Her concern was that if the GPs skyrocket, the competition for patients would grow, while many patients could not afford to pay for private medical healthcare. 

“The competition for patients is going to be very tight,” said Khumalo. 

 An unemployed graduate, who asked to remain anonymous in fear that talking to the media would jeopardise his chances of being employed, said he received an SMS on August 4 saying he had been shortlisted for 100 posts. 

“Since these posts were advertised in August, and the shortlisting was announced on November 4, which is three months after the applications were submitted.

 “Meaning that it might be finalised next year,” he said. 

However, Msimango called for calm as “the recruitment process is actively under way”.

“The department has been encouraged by the significant number of qualified applications received. 

“This high volume of interest has slightly extended the processing timeline as we ensure a thorough and fair review of all candidates,” she said in the statement.  

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