We are disappointed — but not surprised — that Department of Health spokesperson Foster Mohale ignored us when we asked why, in a country crying out for medical resources, there are still more than 1 200 qualified doctors who have completed their community service and are unemployed.
A failing health system: When will the government take accountability?
We don’t ask these questions to amuse ourselves.
We ask them on behalf of you, the taxpayers, who have to perpetually put up with the misuse of your tax rands.
But, accountability has never been a strong suit of our ANC overlords.
And, tragic and infuriating as the current situation is, it underlines the incompetence of our government — and even though other parties are now involved in our government of national unity (GNU), this particular department has been run by the ANC since 1994.
We say incompetence because the issue of unemployed doctors and under-staffed government hospitals and clinics has been raised before by the South African Medical Association Trade Union (Samatu).
This body protested the situation more than a year ago and was told there was not enough money in the health budget to fill these doctor posts.
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Putting money into a broken piggy bank
However, the government seemed to have an attack of conscience and increased the health budget by R20.8 billion, leading many to presume this would be used to solve the manpower problem.
Again, unsurprisingly, that didn’t happen. Perhaps the money was needed elsewhere.
We also know from the R2 billion looted from Tembisa Hospital that the state medical sector is a vast piggy bank for comrades.
South African Medical Association vice-chair Dr Zanele Bikitsha puts her finger on it: this is “a structural failure in workforce planning that weakens the entire health system”.
How likely is it, then, that things will get any better when the piggy bank is even bigger in the National Health Insurance project?
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