Unemployed South African doctors to be employed by April

Unemployed doctors in South Africa who want to join the civil service will be employed by 1 April this year.

According to the country's Health Minister Joe Phaahla, in collaboration with the Finance Minister, a solution has been found for doctors who want to stay in the public service but cannot be offered funded positions.

During the debate following President Cyril Ramaphosa's address to the nation, Phaahla said he recalled that over the past 15 years the government has stepped up the training of doctors both in national universities and in Cuba as part of the Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro international cooperation programme. He said the number of graduates has almost doubled in the last 10 years, from 1,338 entering the internship programme in 2014 to 2,210 this year.

He explained to parliamentarians that in the medical profession, working in multidisciplinary teams is key, so every effort is being made to keep as many doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and other specialists in the health system as possible. This is reported by Prensa Latina, a partner of TV BRICS.

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