scarce skills
19 June 2007
Correctional Services National Commissioner, Vernie Petersen says the
department is considering centralising the recruitment and management of scarce
skills in regions to ensure appropriate deployment of the services where they
are needed most. Addressing a Portfolio Committee meeting in Cape Town today,
Commissioner Petersen said part of the problem was the imbalanced access of
various correctional centres to services of medical practitioners,
psychologists, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals. He cited the
Pretoria Management Area that had six psychologists while a much needy
Johannesburg Correctional Centre had only one psychologist.
Commissioner Petersen also outlined that the department upgraded the entry
levels of medical practitioners from 11 to 12, pharmacists from seven to eight
and psychologists from seven to eight in order to address acute shortages of
scarce health skills that are critical for effective delivery of healthcare
services for offenders. The briefing followed a presentation of the report of
the Portfolio Committee on an unannounced visit to the Pollsmoor Correctional
Centre Hospital which identified major challenges that included, staff
shortages, expired medication and lack of requisite equipment for provision of
primary healthcare services for offenders.
Commissioner Petersen also indicated that the department was working on
increasing the supervisory and junior management capacity in order to ensure
greater compliance with the government policy and regulatory framework which
was identified as another problem in the provision of health services in
Pollsmoor. He said Correctional Services was committed to provide primary
healthcare services to offenders that are commensurate with what ordinary South
Africans could access as free and law abiding citizens. He indicated that there
were discussions with the Departments of Health and Public Service and
Administration regarding a special dispensation for nurses that was due for
implementation within the next two months.
The Portfolio Committee gave Correctional Services 90 days to implement the
recommendations and planned interventions within which the whole committee
would undertake an unannounced visit to assess progress made at Pollsmoor. The
Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee, Mr Denis Bloem, also called on the
management to act decisively in dealing with some of the managers or staff
members that are not implementing the directives. Mr Bloem's call follows an
incident where removed expired drugs found their way back into shelves of
dispensaries after certification that they had actually been removed.
Also briefing the Portfolio Committee, the Director of health in
Correctional Services Ms Maria Mabena said the department had 694 nurses, 38
psychologists, and 26 pharmacists that include community health service
providers. She indicated the competition for scarce skills impacted negatively
on the department's ability to recruit and retain the categories of officials.
She highlighted that other strategies adopted by Correctional Services included
the enlisting of services of placement to focus on these categories in
Pollsmoor and Westville Correctional Centres, mobilisation of volunteers as
well as head hunting for professional nurses.
Enquiries:
Manelisi Wolela
Cell: 083 626 0304
Issued by: Department of Correctional Services
19 June 2007
