The salaries of doctors and the conditions they work under in the public sector are awful, Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi said on Friday.
”Doctors pay must be raised and their working conditions improved,” he said to the applause of protesting doctors in Pretoria.
”It takes eight hours to admit a patient in the public health sector; that must be improved,” he said.
He warned that the public sector was a ”looming crisis”.
Vavi described doctors salaries and working conditions as ”awful”.
”We want action now; address the crisis before it explodes and becomes a major crisis,” he said.
Doctors marched to the Department of Health’s offices in the city on Friday to protest about low salaries and poor working conditions.
They called on the government to implement the occupation specific dispensation (OSD), as agreed in 2007.
The OSD was meant to improve their salary, and supposed to have been implemented by June last year.
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, flanked by his deputy, Molefi Sefularo, accepted a memorandum from the doctors.
Motsoaledi said all issues raised in the document were being addressed.
”The OSD is being addressed at a level higher than mine,” he said.
”I understand your pain, I am a doctor, and once worked in a hospital; I experience your situation.”
He said the issues raised would be looked into.
”Give us the time frame, [the] deadline!” doctors shouted.
Motsoaledi apologised for the delay in implementing the OSD.
March coordinator Lizzy Kwenda said earlier that the doctors at Friday’s protest were not neglecting their patients.
”We are marching to better conditions in the public sector, for you not to be in long queues.”
Kwenda said doctors were tired of conditions in the public health sector.
”We cannot take it anymore. The health system has collapsed,” she said.
About 300 private and public doctors took to the streets of Pretoria on Friday demanding better salaries and conditions of employment.
They are objecting to poor public sector salaries and a reference price list that determines what private sector doctors should charge.
The South African Medical Association (Sama), which organised the march, is hoping salaries will rise by at least 50% through the introduction of the OSD.
But the Health Department has rejected this figure as arbitrary.
During the protest, doctors wearing white gowns with black armbands held up placards reading: ”Bus drivers earn more than doctors” and ”Public health needs cash injection”.
Kwenda said the armbands symbolised the ”death” of the health system.
The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa on Friday said it supported the doctors’ march.
”We remind the government that the continued impasse on the doctor’s OSD does not only deny ordinary South Africans access to health but also weighs heavily on nurses who now have to take the responsibility to act above their scope,” said spokesperson Asanda Fongqo.
Cosatu’s coordinator for the public sector, S’fiso Khumalo, said workers were frustrated by the health department’s non-compliance to the OSD.
”All workers are frustrated, especially those who are affected by the OSD, like teachers, doctors and correctional services officials,” he said.
The African National Congress Youth League said it supported the doctors.
”Recession or no recession, doctors must be paid better,” said ANCYL spokesperson Flyod Tshivambo.
The Federation of Trade Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) said it strongly supported the march.
”Today’s planned action by medical personnel in most provinces is a clear indication that the state has underestimated the importance of the OSD for professionals,” said Fedusa general secretary Dennis George.
The Health Department on Friday said hospital operation were not affected by the protests, as some doctors had remained at work in hospitals while others went to the march.
The Business Day newspaper on Friday reported that bus drivers were now earning more than junior doctors, following a wage agreement between Metrobus and the South African Municipal Workers’ Union.
According to the agreement, bus drivers with more than three years’ experience were now earning R8Â 800 a month, compared to junior doctors, who earn R8Â 000 after six years of study. — Sapa