Chris Khumalo
23 September 2004
The Health department is finalising a bilateral arrangement with Iran to allow Iranian doctors to work in rural health facilities in South Africa.
The move is similar to a deal struck with Cuba which has seen Cuban doctors working in South Africa's rural areas.
The Iranian doctors will be posted in the rural areas of Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West province.
"We presently have about 80 doctors from the United Kingdom working in under-served and rural areas of South Africa so that they can gain exposure to health challenges in developing countries", Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said during a Health in Rural Nodes conference in Durban this week.
Tshabalala-Msimang announced that an additional R37-million had been made available over three years - through funding from the European Union - for technical support to 13 rural nodes in South Africa.
"The difficulty in recruiting and retaining suitably qualified health professionals remains a major challenge in rural areas", the minister said.
"We have adopted a recruitment and retention strategy that seeks to address the broader challenge of migration of health personnel from rural to urban areas, from the public to the private sector, and from South Africa to developed countries."
She said the department had allocated R750-million for 2004/05 for rural and scarce skills allowances as part of a strategy to recruit and retain skilled health workers in rural areas and the public sector in general.
Tshabalala-Msimang said the budget for these allowances would increase to R1-billion next year.
The rural allowance currently applies to 33 000 full-time health professionals, including professional nurses, working in designated areas.
The scarce skills allowance applies to 62 000 full-time health professionals in specified categories, regardless of the geographic area in which they work. The allowances range from 10% to 15% of annual salary, depending on occupational category.
This means that a medical doctor at an entry level working in a rural area with an annual salary of R150 000 would get a R15 000 (10%) rural allowance.
Other occupational categories - including dentists, pharmacists, radiographers, speech and hearing therapists, occupational therapists, environmental health officers, dieticians, psychologists and physiotherapists - receive allowances that range between 8% and 22% of their annual salaries, depending on their area and occupational category.
As part of the government's bid to increase access to health care facilities in rural and under-served areas, the health department has also introduced one-year community service.
"We started with doctors, followed by dentists and pharmacists", Tshabalala-Msimang said. "Last year seven other categories of health professionals were introduced to community services. These are radiographers, speech and hearing therapists, occupational therapists, environmental health officers, dieticians, psychologists and physiotherapists.
"The last category to be included in this programme are professional nurses, who are due to start community service next year."
Source: BuaNews
