Doctors working at government health facilities in Johannesburg are worried they will not be paid their commuted overtime when they get their salaries on Tuesday, as they allege their contracts have not been captured on the system.
Commuted overtime is the time doctors work monthly, which they claim is 80 hours.
“We have been living with this salary [overtime] for the past seven years, and not because there is no need, there is a need.
“All these clinics in Soweto are busy. Government created an environment where people can access services 24/7 at clinics and people got used to it, so even if you just have a headache you can just go to the clinic after hours,” one doctor said.
Medical doctors working at various government facilities in Johannesburg allege the commuted overtime contract they signed in February was not registered on the persal system and that delays or mistakes could compromise their livelihoods.
Several doctors told TimesLIVE Premium that government has hinted about cutting overtime hours, causing panic across the sector and fears this will drive some of the doctors out of the system.
One doctor who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation said they signed an annual commuted overtime contract in February as they do every year.
He said they only realised this month, as the new contract was coming into effect, that it wasn’t uploaded onto the system and they were allegedly made to sign another three-month contract under duress.
“They said if we don't sign, we are not going to receive our overtime salary. We signed, thinking it was on persal .
“This is illegal — even now we have signed, but on the system we are not there — so we know that on the 15th we won’t get any overtime when we get paid.”
He added that the persal system breaks down the basic salary, the overtime and the gross salary.
The three-month contract will run from April to June.
Another doctor working at a clinic in Soweto said last week a circular was issued compelling them to take up fewer overtime hours — 60 hours instead of the 80 hours they are used to working and claiming for.
“This means that there are going to be days when some of these medical centres are not going to have doctors for almost 10 days per month,” he said.
He said despite learning that their overtime contract wasn't on the system, doctors continued working overtime.
This means that there are going to be days when some of these medical centres are not going to have doctors for almost 10 days per month.
In the circular dated April 4, the department said to ensure stability in service delivery, it clarified that Option D, which allows 80 hours of overtime under the commuted overtime framework, would remain in full effect from April 1 to June 30.
“This reaffirmation is intended to restore calm and provide certainty while also allowing space for a structured, inclusive engagement process to address operational challenges and support effective, lawful implementation of the commuted overtime policy,” read the circular.
Doctors that TimesLIVE Premium spoke to alleged that in other regions in the province, including Tshwane and Ekurhuleni, doctors signed their contracts in February without any hindrance and did not have any challenges.
“They [the government] want to save money, but it is going to have a detrimental impact on patient care and us. Even your passion for being a public servant fades, and I always ask why us,” he said.
He added that the same thing happened last year until they involved the union, and the problem was eventually solved but left them financially distressed as they were paid their overtime late.
“It had a huge demoralising impact, financially and emotionally. Even coming to work the way these people treat us, the patients, the way you try to do your best, the way we love our job — you will be treated like you are a second-class citizen,” he said.
He said if the doctors were not paid and chose not to work overtime, hell would break loose in the Soweto area, especially at month end when there are emergency incidents.
“That means everyone will start at the hospital. We stabilise these patients before they go to the hospital — we are dealing with all these smaller aspects that the hospitals must not deal with. Any core of a health system requires a strong form of primary healthcare system which is us, yet the way we are treated is appalling,” he added.
Another doctor complained that if she doesn't receive her salary with the overtime she usually gets, her debit orders would bounce. She said their basic salaries were not enough to sustain their livelihoods, and without overtime pay, it was worse.
“I have a mortgage, car and school fees to pay.
“Last year, the same thing happened where our overtime salary was compromised. We had to beg the department to issue letters to the banks to notify them they are the cause and that our salaries were going to be delayed,” she said.
Dr Phuthi Ratshabedi, chairperson of the South African Medical Association Trade Union (Samatu) in Gauteng, said doctors in Tshwane and Ekurhuleni had already signed their contracts when the circular was released and they were not affected.
He said the union met the department last week after it was announced that overtime was going to be cut, which caused frustration among doctors with speculation that some would leave the system.
“From the meeting what transpired was that the department has been paying overtime for years and people were in option D for overtime. What they needed was to put people on option C in the already existing policy,” he said.
Gauteng department of health spokesperson Motalatale Modiba couldn't comment at the time as the National Health Council met on Friday and the commuted overtime was part of those discussions.
During a briefing on Thursday, health minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi said commuted overtime was a part of department's HR policies which needed to be reviewed.
TimesLIVE
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