Note to Editors: Please find the attached soundbites in English and Afrikaans by Mariette Pittaway MPL, DA Spokesperson on Health in the Free State.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has again, on the request of several healthcare workers, written to the MEC for Health in the Free State, Montseng Tsiu, requesting that another group of qualified healthcare workers who have not yet been registered by the Health Professionals Council of South Africa (HPCSA) be registered as a matter of urgency, to enable them to assist with Covid-19 relief in the province.
This request comes after the DA previously assisted another group of qualified young community service doctors and interns who had not yet been registered by the HPCSA earlier this year.
The DA want to see all our unemployed doctors, nurses or interns who are able and willing to assist in the pandemic, to be able to do so, as the Free State cannot afford to have qualified doctors, nurses and medical interns sit at home and be unemployed.
The Free State Department of Health can ill-afford to drag its feet in registering additional healthcare capacity. We need to get ahead of the curve and ensure the Department of Health is prepared to deal with this crisis in the Free State, as our healthcare facilities require all the help they can get. We cannot afford for institutional red tape to be the cause of our diminished healthcare capacity in the Free State.
Our young healthcare professionals are ready and eager to work, and play a part in saving the lives of our people in the province. They want to assist the sick and ease the load that this pandemic has placed on our already crippled healthcare system.
The DA would again like to urge any other healthcare professionals who are experiencing similar difficulties approach us for assistance. The DA shall continue to mobilise the necessary stakeholders in order to bring the pandemic to its knees.