By Loushe Jordaan Gilbert

The South African Medical Association has attributed the unemployment crisis among doctors to poor planning and corruption by government officials.

The South African Medical Association Trade Union reported that over 800 qualified doctors are unemployed due to budget constraints in the Health Department

Speaking on VOC Breakfast on Tuesday morning, Health Department’s spokesperson, Foster Mohale confirmed the need for medical personnel within the department, however Mohale said some of the unplaced graduates have not met the requirements yet and will only be placed once they have completed their course, hopefully before the end of this year.

“We can confirm that we have been made aware of the graduates who have successfully completed their community service, however some of them started their internships late and will only be placed at medical institutions once that has been completed,” he stressed.

Mohale confirmed that there is a shortage of doctors in the country, especially in the informal settlements, rural areas, and areas prone to violence, however as a department they cannot fast track the process of placing doctors to those areas.

“At the end of the day these graduates or qualified doctors have a choice in terms of where they want to be placed, and many opt to go to more affluent areas, ineffably making it very hard for us as a department to make sure that the not so popular areas are provided equal services,” he added.