In sickness and in health - Doctors marry in their sixth year to secure good placements

Medical students get married in November in order to ensure they don’t get sent to far-flung posts in rural areas or other provinces‚ according to Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi.

There is a spike in marriages‚ especially in KwaZulu-Natal‚ at the end of students’ six years of studying before they need to work full time.

Motsoaledi was speaking at a press briefing to address reports that doctors and pharmacists had not been placed in community service or intern positions‚ which prevented them from completing their studies.

“I am not being cynical. It is like that… this is a societal issue‚” he said about the rushed marriages.

Doctors who are married are allowed to ask to be placed in certain cities for community service or internship in order to be near their spouses.

Community service is designed to improve staffing in rural and underserved areas.

Motsoaledi said the 22 interns - out of 1499 - who have not been placed had refused jobs open to them due to marriage‚ family and “owning an expensive property”.

The minister also complained that doctors didn’t like to do internships in rural areas.

• ‘They prefer not to accept employment‚’ says health minister of unplaced doctorsHealth Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi said it is not true that there are intern and community doctors who do not have posts‚ but claimed they have declined the jobs offered to them. 

“An overwhelming number of newly qualified doctors prefer to do internships in mostly four cities: Cape Town‚ Durban‚ Johannesburg and Pretoria.

“A few may opt for Port Elizabeth‚ East London and Kimberly.”

Despite complaining that doctors didn’t want to work in rural areas‚ Motsoaledi‚ however‚ admitted that all community service jobs in Northern Cape were in Kimberly and no posts in rural areas were available.

The Rural Health Advocacy Project this week reported that there were no community service posts in the province in rural areas‚ forcing doctors to work in city. Motsoaledi said he had just discovered this.

“This is wrong‚ it has to be corrected. They [Northern Cape] must create posts in rural areas. I have spoken to the MEC [in Northern Cape]. If South Africans refuse to take these jobs‚ we will send foreigners there.”

He said the reasons there were no posts in rural areas in the Northern Cape is because the province believed doctors wouldn’t take jobs in far-flung areas. “We have to change it.”

– TMG Digital/The Times