Morning Michele

On the 5th of February at a media briefing Dr Joe Phaala made the following statement:

“As of now, all those graduates who were eligible for placement to do internship have been placed. Equally, all those who finished the internship and were eligible to start community service have been placed,” said Phaahla.

Currently my daughter has completed her internship and is waiting with +- 200 other doctors on a WhatsApp group for placement as a community service doctor, therefore, the statement above is not true!

She (and the others) cannot earn a living, with a household to support, study debt to pay etc. They cannot even locum at other medical practices before they have completed their community service. They are essentially stuck with no means of earning an income in their professional field.

They must either be placed urgently, or the community service requirement must be waved immediately so that they can pursue employment elsewhere.

Please take this up with the Portfolio Committee on Health so that the doctors can be placed urgently.

Regards
Danie van der Schyff