Medical interns to be paid at last
THE South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has said it will get more administration staffers to prevent the future non-payment of medical interns at 2 Military Hospital.
First-year interns at the Wynberg facility downed tools last week saying they had not been paid since taking up positions in January.
Two interns approached the Cape Times with their concerns, and one said that seven interns were impacted by the payment delays.
The SANDF has since confirmed the two interns’ situations, but did not confirm how many interns in total were impacted. “The SANDF can confirm that after an internal investigation into the challenge experienced by two medical interns at 2 Military Hospital in the Western Cape, it was found that an administrative challenge existed that affected the payment of the two medical interns at the hospital.
“This challenge has since been identified and rectified to avoid a similar situation in the future. The affected interns will be paid their due salaries with effect from April 30, 2021, backdated to January 1, 2021.
“The administrative challenge is highly regretted and in addressing the situation, the following recommendations were made to ensure there is no repeat of a similar unfortunate situation in the future: a proposal will be made to the National Department of Health (NDoH) to have or consent to registering two South African Military Health Services senior staff officers (colonel rank level) in the Internship and Community Service Programme as a mechanism to ensure collaboration between the SANDF and the NDoH in future with regards to internship deployments and related HR matters.
“The SANDF views the situation as an unfortunate and regrettable incident that has financially disadvantaged the interns in question.”
The health department said it could not comment on the matter as it involved the SANDF.
The SA Medical Association (Sama) said at the outset of the interns’ strike that it would provide support to the students. It said it would monitor whether the interns were paid on Friday, and comment thereafter.