Health Council agrees to hire another 1,650

• But funding for the plan is uncertain as parliament has yet to pass the Appropriation Bill

The National Health Council has agreed to spend R1.78bn to hire 1,650 doctors and other healthcare professionals, health minister Aaron Motsoaledi announced on Thursday. The council is the highest decision-making body in health and includes the minister and provincial MECs for health, as well as representatives from local government and the military.

The National Health Council (NHC) has agreed to spend R1.78bn to hire 1,650 doctors and other healthcare professionals, health minister Aaron Motsoaledi announced on Thursday.

The NHC is the highest decision-making body in health and includes the minister and provincial MECs for health, as well as representatives from local government and the military.

Unemployed health graduates took to the streets earlier this year to protest at the lack of public sector jobs. SA’s biggest doctor organisation, the SA Medical Association, estimated in January that more than 1,800 doctors could not find work.

“Unfortunately, at that moment the department of health could not do anything due to budgetary constraints brought [on] by consistent austerity measures applied over a decade,” said the minister.

While news of the hiring plan will be met with relief from unemployed health graduates, it

HUMAN RESOURCES UNITS WILL SOON COMMENCE WITH RECRUITMENT ONCE ALL LOGISTICS HAVE BEEN FINALISED

Aaron Motsoaledi Health minister

is not clear yet whether the funds will be made available for the 2025/26 fiscal year as parliament has yet to pass the Appropriation Bill.

The bill authorises the government to spend the money set aside in the budget for various programmes, and its passage through parliament is not a done deal.

Parliament passed the fiscal framework by only a narrow margin last week, as parties in the government of national unity (GNU) wrangled over finance minister Enoch Godongwana’s contentious plan to hike VAT by one percentage point over the next two years.

After the DA refused to support the fiscal framework, the ANC turned to parties outside the GNU to secure the votes it needed to get the bill approved.

The proposed budget tabled by Godongwana on March 12 included an extra R29.9bn for health over the medium term to cover wage increases, hire 800 unemployed post-community service doctors, and pay for goods and services.

However, this addition to the baseline was contingent on the revenue-raising measures contained in the budget, which included raising VAT from 15% to 15.5% this year, and then to 16% next year.

Complicating matters further is the fact that the extra R29.9bn was a provisional allocation, which the National Treasury said in March would be made available only if departments “demonstrated readiness or met specific conditions”.

The NHC had approved the advertisement of 1,200 posts for doctors, 200 posts for nurses and 250 posts for other disciplines, said the minister.

“The human resources units will soon commence with recruitment processes once all logistics have been finalised,” he said.

No provincial breakdown of these posts was available, as the NHC had worked with the provisional figures announced by the minister of finance in his budget speech, said health department spokesperson Foster Mohale.

“Until this is formally allocated we don’t know the breakdown per province,” he said.

The NHC also approved the purchase of 25,000 hospital beds, 80,000 mattresses, more than 76,000 baby bassinets, and 1,25-million items of linen to the value of R1.346bn, said the minister.

“One of the most embarrassing experiences the public health sector had to endure is the shortage of simple things that will make the stay of patients a worthwhile experience,” he said.