PRETORIA – Most of the medical interns at Gauteng hospitals who had not received their salaries for January and February, have now been paid.
“The Gauteng department of health wishes to inform the public that out of the 56 medical interns who were yet to be paid their January and February salaries, 53 have been paid as of (Monday) 7 March 2022. The other three interns’ appointment process is still under way subject to the conclusion of the administrative issues,” said Gauteng health spokesperson Kwara Kekana.
“The Gauteng department of health has 429 medical interns positions that are funded annually. However, the national department of health has historically allocated interns in excess of the baseline allocated budget that Gauteng department of health has.”
She said for this year, there were an additional 203 interns that were allocated by the national department of health to the province.
“This has meant that Gauteng department of health has had to first confirm additional full funding for any excess interns allocated to the province beyond the available baseline of Gauteng department of health funded posts,” she said.
“This unfortunately results in delays in payments to some of the interns.”
Kekana said the Gauteng department of health engages all parties involved to ensure there is better planning, and that staff are not negatively affected.
“We extend our apology to all medical interns who have been affected by the delays in payment of their salaries,” she said.
Last week, a response by Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi to Gauteng Legislature questions posed by the DA’s Jack Bloom revealed the provincial health department still has 14 Cuban doctors who are paid between R78 000 and R90 000.
“The Gauteng Health Department spent R30.3 million on Cuban doctors last year, and still employs 14 Cuban doctors who earn between R78 000 and R91 000 a month,” said Bloom, who is DA’s Gauteng health spokesperson.
Bloom’s assertions are supported by the written Legislature response signed off by Mokgethi. In the document seen by IOL, Mokgethi states that: “Salaries range from R78 247 for a medical officer to R90 693 for a specialist per month”.
Bloom then asked Mokgethi to explain why the provincial government was “employing Cuban doctors when there are unemployed local doctors”.
Mokgethi said: “Their employment was because of a government-to-government agreement entered into by South Africa in 1996. Cuba as a country is known for having the best health outcomes and their experience in prevention and health promotion would assist in strengthening the district health system.”
IOL