Placement of medical staff: private sector must fill gap left by state

22 June 2021

Solidarity demands that in future private hospitals should be accredited to accommodate internships for graduate medical staff. According to Solidarity, these students, as in the case of other medical professions, must be able to receive training at private hospitals. Solidarity’s response came after it had received several complaints from its members who must report for internships in less than two weeks, but who have not yet been placed by the state.

“It is clear that the state does not have the capacity or the ability to manage the placement of graduate medical personnel. Neither does the state realise the seriousness of the situation the country currently finds itself in amid the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Our country is already suffering from a shortage of trained medical staff. How long does this have to continue before everything falls apart?” said Paul Maritz, manager of Youth and Career Development at Solidarity.

Solidarity launched a formal legal process in 2020 with regard to similar cases, after which interns were successfully placed. However, according to Solidarity, drastic intervention is currently needed, and the organisation suggests that doctors, as in the case of pharmacists and several other medical professions, should be able to complete their medical internships at private hospitals since the state clearly does not have the capacity or funds to deal with these placements.

“The time is ripe for private hospitals to be allowed to take in young doctors as interns. The state’s monopoly on such internships is clearly unsustainable. The solution is actually less state and less centralisation. It is also clear to us that young doctors are not sufficiently taken care of by the state and therefore could be accommodated better and more effectively by the private sector,” said Henru Krüger, sector head of the Health Guild at Solidarity.

Paul Maritz
Manager: Youth and Career Development

Henru Krüger
Occupational Guild Sector Head: Professional

Issued by Solidarity, 22 June 2021