Why SA has a shortage of doctors and nurses

[Jopie Fourie]

Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize says the demand for health services in South Africa is increasing and funds to address the change are limited mainly due to the continuous rise of immigration and the increasing burden of disease.

Mkhize made the remarks in response to a parliamentary question from Freedom Front Plus MP Phillipus van Staden who asked him what the reasons were for the shortage of doctors and nurses in South African state hospitals.

In his response, Mkhize said: "The primary reasons why the Republic [of South Africa] has a shortage of doctors and nurses is the fact that the public health sector budget has not been increasing in real terms for the past 10 years, impacting on the number of staff that can be appointed.

"Furthermore, the demand for health services in the country is increasing while there is no additional funding to address the change, which results primarily from immigration and the increasing burden of disease.

Why SA has a shortage of doctors and nurses

Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize says the demand for health services in South Africa is increasing and funds to address the change are limited mainly due to the continuous rise of immigration and the increasing burden of disease.

www.news24.com

 

[Jopie Fourie]

Uh... okay. At least the propaganda machine is still working, it seems.

 

[ɹǝuuᴉM]

I wonder why there is a shortage of money... What vehicle does she drive? On a per capita basis, South African (ANC) politicians are the 3th best paid in the world! Are they serving South Africans or are the South Africans serving them? This much for the liberation.

 

[Hemi300c]

I wonder why there is a shortage of money... What vehicle does she drive? On a per capita basis, South African (ANC) politicians are the 3th best paid in the world! Are they serving South Africans or are the South Africans serving them? This much for the liberation.

They serving themselves and their family and cadres.
No interest in the people just their back pockets.

 

[wbot]

And these days they're failing their exams lol. Not to mention the anc is fahrking up education even further (like everything else they touch) which would greatly contribute to the shortage of health professionals in years to come.

 

[Arthur]

The honourable minister's analysis and hence conclusion is flawed. SA has plenty of doctors and nurses - for people who are willing and able to pay for them. What we have a surfeit of is people who deemund that other people pay their medical expenses.

 

[rietrot]

They should let more medical students in. Especially those that can pay for themselves.

 

[MEIOT]

The answer to this question is blatantly obvious. More especially obvious when you read about medical students failing hopelessly. The caliber of students are just not cut out for the field and admission into these universities are just piss easy for the majority.
3rd rate doctors being shite out these universities with exemption from all the usual norms that define a good enough pass.
I for one refuse to be treated by a 3rd rate doctor, as is my right.

 

[rietrot]

The answer to this question is blatantly obvious. More especially obvious when you read about medical students failing hopelessly. The caliber of students are just not cut out for the field and admission into these universities are just piss easy for the majority.
3rd rate doctors being shite out these universities with exemption from all the usual norms that define a good enough pass.
I for one refuse to be treated by a 3rd rate doctor, as is my right.

Many people that I know of who should make it in don't. The criteria is ridiculously strict.

 

[TheChamp]

Zimbabwean doctors are on strike, let's grab all of them, they will feel right at home here.

 

[rietrot]

The honourable minister's analysis and hence conclusion is flawed. SA has plenty of doctors and nurses - for people who are willing and able to pay for them. What we have a surfeit of is people who deemund that other people pay their medical expenses.

There's definitely a shortage. My doctor that I pay for is always ridiculously busy and last year we visited some specialist who was also ridiculously busy running between operating and seeing patients with a waiting list a few months long for something rather urgent.

And the shortage of doctors just pushes up medical cost. R500 for a 10 min consultation.

 

[MEIOT]

Many people that I know of who should make it in don't. The criteria is ridiculously strict.

White people right?

 

[Arthur]

There's definitely a shortage. My doctor that I pay for is always ridiculously busy and last year we visited some specialist who was also ridiculously busy running between operating and seeing patients with a waiting list a few months long for something rather urgent.

While anecdotal: my own experience is that I've never had to wait more than a day or so to see a specialist. I do distinguish between urgent and convenient.

 

[rietrot]

While anecdotal: my own experience is that I've never had to wait more than a day or so to see a specialist. I do distinguish between urgent and convenient.

Anyway the state shouldn't control how much medical professionals we train. Open it up to the market.

 

[thestaggy]

"The weight that foreign nationals are bringing to the country has got nothing to do with xenophobia … it's a reality.

"Our hospitals are full, we can't control them. When a woman is pregnant and about to deliver a baby you can't turn her away from the hospital and say you are a foreign national … you can't."

Au contraire, Rodney, au contraire.

A newborn fell to his death at Mamelodi Hospital, east of Pretoria, after nurses allegedly refused to help his mother, who gave birth standing.

...

She said a nurse at the hospital refused to assist her on arrival and told her "this is not Zimbabwe".

'This is not Zim', nurse tells mom as her baby falls to death

Mamelodi nurses 'ill-treat' woman in her labour

www.sowetanlive.co.za

 

[wbot]

Zimbabwean doctors are on strike, let's grab all of them, they will feel right at home here.

Sad thing is they're probably even better qualified and more skilled than ours. But then again not even His Excellency Mad Bob wanted any of them near him so...

 

[Milano]

I found them..

A Saskatchewan Medical Association study in 1996 proved that 40% of the rural (towns <10 000 people) doctors in Saskatchewan were South African medical graduates.

South African Family Practice

The South African Family Practice is a peer-reviewed scientific journal, which strives to provide primary care physicians (and their teams), as well as researchers, with a broad range of scholarly work in the disciplines of family medicine, primary health care, rural medicine, district health...

www.safpj.co.za

^ And that was way back in 1996, and only in Saskatchewan, Canada. I believe that now in 2019 we will find the rest of our 'missing' South African doctors in Australia, NZ, US, UK and continental Europe.

 

[Eniigma]

Mkhize said: "The primary reasons why the Republic [of South Africa] has a shortage of doctors and nurses is the ANC."

fixed it for you.

 

[Milano]

fixed it for you.

ANC has a fix, NHI is expected to see triple the number of doctors and nurses leaving. When the ANC identifies a national crisis they find a way to wedge the knife deeper into the gaping wound.

 

[TheChamp]

Sad thing is they're probably even better qualified and more skilled than ours. But then again not even His Excellency Mad Bob wanted any of them near him so...

Interesting, why do you think, they are more skilled and better qualified than ours?