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- Unemployed doctors marched to the Health Professions Council of South Africa on Wednesday.
- They said they were still waiting on dates from the council to write their board exams to enable them to start practising.
- One doctor highlighted how taxpayers' money was used to pay for their studies but they could not serve people.
A group of unemployed doctors, who trained abroad, marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Wednesday to complain they are yet to practice, despite completing their training.
Clad in scrubs, the group - made up of 250 junior doctors - said they were still waiting on dates from the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) to write the board exams that would enable them to start practising.
The SA Medical Association supported the doctors and supplied them with water.
After meeting at the Union Buildings, they marched to the HPCSA's offices to hand over a list of their grievances.
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One of the doctors who studied in Russia, Nomathemba Tshabalala from Bethlehem in the Free State, said some had finished their studies in China, Russia, Mauritius, and Italy.
"Most of us were sent to these universities by the Mpumalanga, Free State and Gauteng provinces. We have not been integrated into the health department.
"When you train abroad, you write two board exams: theory and practical exams.
"We submitted our documents to the HPCSA, others in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. However, we are still waiting for the date to write our board exams," added Tshabalala.
She said they were marching for their rights to practice medicine in South Africa.
Tshabalala added:
"The HPCSA should provide us with a board exam date or register us as interns. We are urging the national health department to intervene."
The group said they wanted equal treatment, similar to that of the doctors who studied medicine in South Africa or Cuba.
Dr Katleho Litsoane, 27, from Botshabelo received a scholarship to study medicine in Russia in 2016 from the Free State government.
"We first asked what was going to be the process after completing our studies.
"We were verbally told we would be treated like those who studied in Cuba. However, after we completed our studies, it was a different story," he said.
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According to Litsoane, they could not touch any patients without registering with the HPCSA first.
"Apparently, they are not in agreement with a certain university that is supposed to host the board exams," he said.
Litsoane graduated in October last year.
"I haven't been lucky with employment; I have been sitting at home," he added.
National health department spokesperson Foster Mohale said the department would see how it could assist the doctors.
