Only 20 posts for KZN doctors

Twenty positions for doctors in KZN will be advertised over the next seven days.

Announced by KZN Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane, this is an interim initiative to address unemployment among healthcare professionals.

Speaking alongside KZN Premier Thami Ntuli on Wednesday, Simelane said the much-anticipated 800 posts mentioned by the minister of finance earlier this year referred to a national allocation, from which KZN will also benefit.

This comes as a result of ongoing talks between the Department of Health and the Office of the Premier, aimed at finding practical solutions within difficult financial conditions.

“KwaZulu-Natal, like all other provinces, will receive a portion of those posts. Once national has finalised that process and informed us of how many posts we will receive, we will immediately advertise them,” said Simelane.

She stressed that the current challenges were neither unexpected nor disregarded by the provincial leadership.

“When we realised our provincial budget would not be enough to absorb all the doctors completing their community service this year, we escalated the matter to the premier.

“The premier and I then took the issue to the president, who referred it to Cabinet. As a result, National Treasury and the Department of Health are working together to source and allocate funding across all provinces.”

Simelane said these difficulties must be understood in the context of long-term financial constraints.

“In the past five years, our department has lost R14-billion to baseline budget cuts. That has significantly impacted our ability to expand our staff numbers. Nonetheless, we continue to prioritise engagement with Treasury and other stakeholders to unlock resources.”

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