Thulisile Mapongwana
The Eastern Cape Executive Council has approved the budget reprioritisation request tabled by the provincial Department of Health (DoH) on Thursday.
In a statement on Friday, the DoH says the reprioritisation of the budget will see the permanent appointment of approximately 508 post-community service practitioners and contract renewals of different disciplines of healthcare workers whose contracts expired earlier this year due to budget constraints.
"The reprioritisation will pave the way for more healthcare workers to be employed this financial year, thus addressing staff shortages in the department," the statement reads.
The Eastern Cape government also believes that this is the first step in addressing the primary issues and seeking viable solutions to ensure quality healthcare services for everyone in the province.
"As part of the permanent interventions towards the historical budget limitations at the health department, the EXCO has further directed the Office of the Premier and the Provincial Treasury to continuously work with the DoH to sustainably address the budget pressures in so as not to compromise service delivery."
This turning point comes after unemployed doctors in the province picketed outside of the Department of Health offices in Bhisho last week.
Algoa FM previously reported that in February, more than 200 unemployed medical professionals marched to Bhisho after being left out of the recruitment process.
The unemployed post-community service graduates have raised suspicions over the spending of the allocated funds.
Read More: Unemployed EC doctors continue to protest for jobs
