The Limpopo province has the lowest concentration of doctors in South Africa, with just 9,5 for every 100 000 of the population, according to figures released by Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.
The minister was on Tuesday replying to questions from Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Sandy Kalyan, who asked how many doctors at each rank were employed in the public service and what the provincial ratios of doctors to the population were.
Indicating that there were 11 696 doctors employed in public service, the minister noted that the highest ratio of doctors to population was in the Western Cape — where it was 36,8 per 100 000. This was followed by Gauteng, with 34,5 and the Northern Cape with 28,3.
The ratios for the other provinces were Mpumalanga 17,2, North West 12,1, Eastern Cape 12,2, Free State 24,5 and KwaZulu-Natal with 23,5.
She noted in reply to another question that there were 3 455 doctors’ posts vacant. There were 228 vacant intern posts in the nine provinces, including 64 in the Eastern Cape and 42 in the Free State.
There were 2 164 posts vacant for medical practitioner posts with 548 of these in Gauteng and 490 of these in KwaZulu-Natal.
There were 1 728 medical specialist posts vacant in the nine provinces including 571 in Gauteng and 430 in KwaZulu-Natal.
In a further question relating to salary scales for doctors, the minister noted that there were 4 466 medical officer position posts filled as at January 1, 2003. This was up from 4 197 in 1997. The salaries range from R115 575 per year to R124 164 This compared to salary scales from R84 423 up to R90 696 in 1997.
The number of senior medical officers has risen from 729 in 1997 to 1 111 in January this year. They are now paid between 144 255 to 156 681 rand a year — up from between R106 377 to R115 539 a year in 1997.
There are now 4 022 principal medical officers up from 2 207 in 1997. They earn from R168 294 to R191 781 a year — up from between R124 692 to R142 098 a year in 1997.
Chief medical officers, of which there are 787 up from 112 in 1997, earn between R202 551 and R225 384. This is up from R150 798 and R167 799 a year in 1997. The remaining doctors fall into other salary categories.
Asked whether higher salaries ”or any other specified incentives” had been introduced for doctors who worked in rural areas or areas where there were difficulties in attracting staff, she said a personnel task team had been formed made up of the health department, the public service department and Treasury to investigate the possibility ”of increasing the rural allowance according to the consumer price index”. – I-Net Bridge