Jobless doctors given runaround

About 180 community service doctors are sitting at home waiting for placements in hospitals, despite dire staff shortages.

Doctors who have completed their degree and two years of internship are legally required to do a year's community service in government hospitals.

Several of the unemployed doctors spoke to The Times on condition of anonymity.

Said one: "If there are no jobs for community service why force it on us?"

She said she phoned the Health Department on a daily basis but struggled to get any information from it.

"I want to know which day I must phone and by which date they will place me."

She has also been regularly visiting hospitals to see if there were vacancies, and located a Pretoria hospital that had 10 vacancies for doctors who had completed community service.

In an e-mail seen by The Times, the Health Department said this week it could not place doctors until all the provinces had submitted information on which hospitals still had vacancies.

In another e-mail, a hospital staff member states that the medical facility is unable to directly hire community service doctors and must wait for instruction from the provincial department of health.

One doctor moved back in with her parents because she cannot afford to live on her own while she is unemployed.

She said two friends had volunteered at a hospital in the hope that they would be paid and offered contracts.

She said that they, like her, were finding it hard to live without a salary.

Another said: "I have not heard a single thing about placement. I have been trying to phone the department but it just keeps ringing.

"I am seriously freaking out."

Three different doctors were told by officials in three provinces last week that the number of doctors awaiting jobs was between 180 and 200.

Despite several calls, the department did not reply to a request for comment.