Question NW1610 to the Minister of Health
02 June 2023 - NW1610
Chirwa, Ms NN to ask the Minister of Health
Noting the continuous reports on the shortage of doctors, nurses and general workers in public healthcare facilities, will he (a) outline the total number of personnel shortages in each province and (b) indicate the date when the vacancies will be filled?
Reply:
The Compensation of Employees (COE) when compared to the allocated budget for 2021/22 financial year has shown a decrease of 0.3% (R458.4 million) in 2022/23 and a further additional 4.0% (R6.1 billion) decrease in 2023/2024 baseline.
This has negatively affected Human Resources Capacity in the Public Health Sector, and has forced Provinces to freeze/cut posts funded through the Equitable Share to avoid overspending in Compensation of Employees (COE). The situation was further aggravated by the cessation of the Covid-19 Grant budget as on 31 March 2023, which resulted in termination of employment contracts for employees employed through the Grant.
Currently, Provinces are unable to fill existing vacant posts, despite service delivery needs/demands. Instead, they (Provinces) are required to prioritize filling of posts across all levels of care within the available budget.
In order to mitigate the above, the Provincial Department of Health have introduced several interventions to address the shortage of health workers (i.e. amongst others doctors, nurses and general workers) in healthcare facilities, which amongst includes:
- Prioritisation of the posts in the Annual Recruitment Plan – where funding permits
- Prioritisation of the posts for conditional grant funding
- Filling of replacement posts considered and approved through Annual Recruitment Plan
- Provision of internship and community service programmes
a) In accordance with the PERSAL report below, extracted on 30 April 2023, the overall vacancy posts are 45 072 (i.e. 35 462 health related posts and 9 610 administration and support related posts) in the public health sector.
|
1.1 Health-Related vacant post (Occupational Groups) per provincial departments as at April 2023 |
|||||||||||
|
|
EC |
FS |
GP |
KZN |
LP |
MPU |
NDoH |
NW |
NC |
WC |
Grand Total |
|
DEVELOPMENTAL PROGRAMMES |
0 |
0 |
0 |
101 |
0 |
8 |
0 |
23 |
0 |
568 |
700 |
|
EMERGENCY SERVICE AND RELATED PERSONNEL |
270 |
576 |
574 |
191 |
69 |
21 |
0 |
112 |
134 |
124 |
2071 |
|
ENGINEERING RELATED AND SUPPORT PERSONNEL |
4 |
22 |
19 |
17 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
13 |
5 |
28 |
116 |
|
HEALTH ASSOCIATED SCIENCES AND SUPPORT PERSONNEL |
575 |
1454 |
1769 |
1133 |
272 |
136 |
47 |
474 |
355 |
524 |
6739 |
|
MEDICAL SCIENCES AND SUPPORT PERSONNEL |
421 |
719 |
1166 |
1077 |
678 |
152 |
10 |
197 |
111 |
341 |
4872 |
|
MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY AND SUPPORT PERSONNEL |
15 |
324 |
44 |
38 |
5 |
2 |
0 |
6 |
1 |
11 |
446 |
|
NATURAL SCIENCES RELATED AND SUPPORT PERSONNEL |
0 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
|
NURSING AND SUPPORT PERSONNEL |
4 |
1264 |
107 |
20 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1403 |
|
|
NURSING ASSISTANT |
255 |
718 |
368 |
513 |
101 |
143 |
0 |
320 |
122 |
213 |
2753 |
|
PROFESSIONAL NURSE |
2033 |
1616 |
3753 |
2832 |
731 |
506 |
1 |
710 |
325 |
561 |
13068 |
|
SOCIAL SERVICES AND SUPPORT PERSONNEL |
1 |
44 |
26 |
35 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
13 |
6 |
33 |
164 |
|
STAFF NURSE |
303 |
533 |
484 |
1014 |
186 |
246 |
0 |
142 |
57 |
157 |
3122 |
|
Grand Total |
3881 |
6012 |
9468 |
7058 |
2067 |
1230 |
60 |
2010 |
1116 |
2560 |
35462 |
|
1.2 Admin Related vacant posts (Occupational Groups) per provincial departments as at April 2023 |
|||||||||||
|
|
EC |
FS |
GP |
KZN |
LP |
MPU |
NDoH |
NW |
NC |
WC |
Grand Total |
|
ADMINISTRATIVE LINE FUNCTION AND SUPPORT PERSONNEL |
191 |
443 |
882 |
739 |
44 |
163 |
60 |
300 |
195 |
339 |
3356 |
|
AGRICULTURAL RELATED AND SUPPORT PERSONNEL |
6 |
28 |
72 |
34 |
26 |
18 |
0 |
57 |
1 |
0 |
242 |
|
ARTISAN AND SUPPORT PERSONNEL |
53 |
225 |
3 |
251 |
48 |
3 |
0 |
19 |
19 |
101 |
722 |
|
COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION RELATED PERSONNEL |
16 |
5 |
18 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
16 |
0 |
19 |
85 |
|
ECONOMIC ADVISORY AND SUPPORT PERSONNEL |
2 |
75 |
18 |
0 |
0 |
18 |
0 |
0 |
198 |
311 |
|
|
HUMAN RESOURCE AND SUPPORT PERSONNEL |
1 |
14 |
124 |
212 |
0 |
1 |
9 |
52 |
1 |
102 |
516 |
|
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND RELATED PERSONNEL |
9 |
33 |
19 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
8 |
5 |
35 |
124 |
|
LEGAL AND SUPPORT PERSONNEL |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
11 |
|
|
MANAGEMENT AND GENERAL SUPPORT PERSONNEL |
365 |
1060 |
662 |
893 |
311 |
481 |
86 |
264 |
74 |
40 |
4236 |
|
REGULATORY AND SUPPORT PERSONNEL |
7 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
|
|
Grand Total |
642 |
1818 |
1857 |
2164 |
429 |
666 |
186 |
717 |
297 |
834 |
9610 |
b) Even-though, the is a systematic process of approving funding and advertisements of posts by Accounting Officers (through the Annual Recruitment Plan) a further consultation with the Provincial Treasuries supersedes filling of vacant posts to avoid exceeding Cost of Employment (COE) budgets. It therefore not possible to mention a specific date but to alert that the filling of posts is prioritized across the Public Health Sector.