National treasury has given the go-ahead to the health ministry to fill all doctors' posts that had been frozen as the country combats the Covid-19 outbreak.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize told a virtual media briefing yesterday that finance Minister Tito Mboweni had personally committed that the funding would be found for additional staff to enter the health system.
He called on all doctors who wished to apply to come forward.
Mkhize said the health ministry did an inventory of posts and found that in some provinces, all had already been filled, but said posts in provinces with vacancies would be filled.
Meanwhile, the South African Medical Association (SAMA) expressed their concern over the deployment of over 200 Cuban doctors to help South Africa fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Chairperson for SAMA Dr Angelique Coetzee says the money spent on bringing the Cuban specialists to SA would have been better spent on first employing local doctors who have the necessary skills and experience to drive this process, especially in rural areas.
Minister Mkhize defended the plan to deploy 200 Cuban doctors to help with Covid-19 cases, saying South Africa owed a huge debt to that country for continuous health care support, including training of the latest crop of 700 South African students.
Additional reporting by ANA
