all South Africans
5 January 2006
Community service was introduced in 1998 with 26 doctors followed by
dentists in 2000 and pharmacists in 2001. In 2003 seven more professions
started doing community service, namely, clinical psychology, dietetics,
environmental health, occupational health, physiotherapy, radiography and
speech, language and hearing therapy.
Nurses will come on board soon after President Thabo Mbeki signs the Nursing
Bill into law. It is the prerogative of the Department to make a decision as to
which professions do community service and when. Doctors and nurses need to
complete one year of community service before going abroad, going to the
private sector or starting a private practise.
If health professionals decide to go abroad without finishing the community
service, they are required to complete the programme within a period of two
years before being registered by the Medical and Dental Board of South Africa
or SA Nursing Council. If they do six months before leaving the country, they
are only required to do the remaining six months. If they leave before six
months, they are expected to start afresh (do 12 months) when they return.
The main objective of community service is to improve access to quality
healthcare to all South Africans, more especially in previously under-served
areas. This process provides our young professionals with an opportunity to
develop skills, acquire knowledge, behaviour patterns and critical thinking
that will help them in their professional development.
The introduction of community service is also a strategy to improve on the
number of health workers in these areas, so as to ensure better access to
quality healthcare.
Communities appreciate the multi-disciplinary service rendered by community
service health professionals. On the side of professionals, especially those
who are allocated in the rural areas, the community service experience gives
them confidence as they deal with clinical issues as independently of their
lecturers as possible. Community service is now second nature to those health
professions that do it.
There are 3 380 health professionals allocated to community service in
2006:
* Dentists 184
* Pharmacists 473
* Medical doctors 1324
* Clinical psychologists 104
* Dieticians 161
* Environmental Health Practitioners 208
* Occupational Therapists 244
* Physiotherapists 280
* Radiographers 274
* Speech Therapists 128
It is a legal requirement for the 10 health professions mentioned above to
do community service upon registering for the first time with their
professional councils. At the present moment, only nurses will be joining when
the Nursing Bill is promulgated into an Act.
Applicants make five choices from a list of facilities provided by the
department. If they are not allocated within those choices, they are given
information for choices six to 10. The process is repeated until the applicant
is allocated.
Enquiries:
Charity Bhengu
Tel: (012) 312 0420
Issued by: Department of Health
5 January 2006
