By Lebone Rodah Mosima
Applications for pharmacy and psychology internship posts opened online on Thursday after the province reprioritised funding to support training programmes that had come under pressure because of budget constraints.
KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane said prospective interns could apply through the department’s website.
“This recruitment is a crucial step in strengthening our health system and securing the skills our province needs,” Simelane said.
The provincial department had faced criticism after saying it would freeze some non-medical internship placements because of financial constraints, prompting concern from unions and parts of the pharmacy sector about the impact on newly qualified graduates and service delivery.
Simelane said the province had “successfully reprioritise(d) national funding” to address staffing pressure in training and internship programmes, with the aim of stabilising pipelines and improving pharmaceutical and psychological services in public facilities.
Addressing concerns from some facilities about whether pharmacy interns would be placed in the current financial year, she said placements would go ahead.
“So as we were having an engagement with the facility, one of the challenges that they reported to myself and the head of department was the fact that this year, according to them, they have not received any pharmacy interns,” she said.
“We have dealt with that matter. We are taking in pharmacy interns this year”.
She said management discussions had already taken place and interns would soon be deployed.
“[W]e are making sure that those interns are actually at the facilities and they are where they are supposed to be by Monday”.
Pharmacy graduates must complete a one-year internship under a registered tutor before moving on in the professional pathway, according to the South African Pharmacy Council.
The National Department of Health administers an online system for medical internship and community service placements, and lists pharmacists and clinical psychologists among the professions that must complete a year of remunerated community service to register for independent practice.
The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health said it was committed to a recruitment process that was “transparent, fair and efficient”, and that it would work with relevant stakeholders to ensure such.
INSIDE EDUCATION
