Courts rule in favour of South African doctors trained abroad

Groundup – 18Feb 2022

Doctors won’t have to spend a year training before sitting exams

Two court rulings have made it easier for South African doctors and dentists who trained overseas and want to practice here. Illustration: Lisa Nelson

• Two recent court rulings have found in favour of South African-born doctors and dentists trained overseas who now want to practice in the country.
• The cases challenged a new policy which required foreign-trained South African doctors to undertake a year of local clinical training before they are allowed to sit for their pre-internship clinical examinations.
• More than 100 of these doctors have since been allowed to take these exams.

South African doctors trained abroad will now be allowed to sit local entry exams without needing to complete a conversion year of clinical training.

This follows two separate court hearings where the Health Professionals Council of South Africa (HPCSA) and the Medical and Dental Professionals Board were told to enrol over 100 doctors in both clinical and theoretical examinations.

In June 2021, Judge Margaret Victor in the Johannesburg High Court set aside the HPCSA’s policy governing the requirements for foreign-trained South African doctors or dentists wanting to practice in South Africa.

The case was brought by Dr Hoosain Vawda, a South African who completed his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) at Anna Medical College in Mauritius. During his studies, Vawda received extensive clinical training. In March 2020 Vawda applied to complete his practical medical examination — the Objective Structured Clinical Examination — but was denied by the Mental and Dental Professionals Board, in terms of its new policy.

The policy, called the Pathway for Registration of South African Citizens Who Hold Qualifications Not Prescribed for Registration to Be Registered as Medical Practitioners, or the new Pathway policy, came into effect in June 2020. It required foreign trained doctors to undertake a year of local clinical training before they are allowed to sit for their pre-internship clinical examinations. The HPCSA regulates the education, training and registration for health professionals under the Health Professions Act. There are twelve professional bodies under the HPCSA, including the Mental and Dental Professionals Board.

In setting the policy aside, Judge Victor harshly criticised the policy. “At the time the decision was taken [to implement the new policy] no South African university had any programmes in place to provide clinical exposure to foreign trained medical students … Universities can’t be expected to improvise a programme of clinical training without proper planning.”

Despite this ruling, the HPCSA still did not enrol many foreign-trained doctors in these final professional examinations, including a group of about 100 foreign-educated doctors who are all South African citizens that studied in countries such as Romania, China, Mauritius, Malaysia and Ukraine. They returned to South Africa after completing their degrees with the hope of practising medicine.

In August 2021, these recently qualified doctors, under the banner of the South African Internationally Trained Health Professionals Association (SAITHPA), submitted an application in the Pretoria High Court to compel the HPCSA to enrol them in the clinical examinations. This action was partly successful, with about 30 doctors enrolled for exams in September.

On 5 November, the doctors who were not enrolled returned to court, asking for a contempt order against the Medical and Dental Professionals Board and HPCSA, for failing to comply with the court order. This application was unopposed and on 9 November the contempt order was granted. Later that month, the remaining 70 foreign-trained doctors were granted access to the December-round of examinations.

Rene Govender, chairperson of the South African Internationally Trained Health Professionals Association’s legal desk, said, “So far we have maintained an 80% pass rate. We will continue to fight for the rights of our young doctors who were trained abroad to be allowed to practice on their home soil. It’s not easy for parents to spend millions on sending their children to study abroad only to have them sit at home when they return.”

Dr Geremie Nayager from Phoenix, Durban was one of the applicants in the second application. He completed his seven-year Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery at Anhui Medical University in China in 2019. He also completed electives in internal medicine and surgery in Kerala, India. On his return to South Africa, he worked with the Gift of the Givers and helped run their Durban Covid centre.

“I had not planned to study abroad, it was a last minute decision that I made to follow my dream,” Nayager told GroundUp.

“My application process with the HPCSA received no response for months, not even a reference number. Administration delay was then blamed on the pandemic. Months later I was informed that I’m not eligible for the board exam as the board had to review my university’s curriculum. What HPCSA was telling me meant my years of study had gone for nothing.”

Nayager passed his theory exams with flying colours. After the August court victory, he was invited to write his practical exam which he also passed. He will begin an internship at Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital in Umlazi, eThekwini on 1 January 2022.

The HPCSA’s head of corporate affairs Christopher Tsatsawane said that the Medical and Dental Profesionals Board and the HPCSA had accepted the Vawda ruling. “Candidates seeking to write examinations will be handled as was the case previously. If their submissions are compliant, they will be invited to sit initially for theory exams, and on passing, practical exams before they can be registered as interns.”

Tsatsawane said the number of applications chosen to write the clinical examinations will be determined by the “number that the university managing these exams is able to accommodate”.

www.samigration.com

Australia will reopen to fully vaccinated travelers in 2 weeks

18 February  2022

Australia will reopen to fully vaccinated travelers beginning Feb. 21, officials announced Monday.

The move comes nearly two years after it first closed its international borders to slow the spread of COVID-19, and several months after beginning a gradual reopening that allowed certain tourists and foreign workers to enter the country.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison noted at a news conference that Australia has progressively opened its borders through programs with New Zealand, Singapore, Japan and South Korea, and also began welcoming international students and economic migrants late last year. That welcome will soon be extended to visa holders and international tourists, on one condition.

"The condition is, you must be double vaccinated to come to Australia," Morrison said. "That's the rule. Everyone is expected to abide by it."

He added that quarantine requirements and cap arrangements on arrivals will continue, and are up to state governments to alter as they see fit.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said that visa holders who are not fully vaccinated will still require a travel exemption to enter and will be subject to relevant state and territory quarantine requirements upon arrival. They also will need to provide proof that there is a medical reason they can't be vaccinated, she added.

Officials acknowledged that they are seeking to balance public health with the country's economic recovery. The return of international travel will be a boon to Australia's struggling tourism industry, which has been largely reliant on domestic travelers.

"Australians have stepped up and traveled when they can, but international tourists will be welcome relief," Andrews said.

The Business Council of Australia praised the decision in a statement as "the light at the end of the tunnel" for small businesses, tourism operators and the events industry. But it wasn't entirely celebratory, noting that the move doesn't apply to the entire country.

Western Australia is still inaccessible to travelers from the rest of the country and the world after delaying its domestic border reopening late last month, as Bloomberg notes. The reopening plan was delayed indefinitely because of omicron, the BBC reports.

"In two weeks' time, it will be easier for a Londoner to visit the Great Barrier Reef than it will be for a Melburnian to travel to Perth," the council said. "This is a blight on our international reputation and devastating to WA's ability to attract both investment and talent."

Western Australia is the last state with a COVID-zero approach to the pandemic, as NPR has reported, with strict rules and border closings keeping cases relatively low.

Australia as a whole has seen a drop in COVID-19 cases since they hit their peak in early January. About 80% of its population is fully vaccinated, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The announcement also comes less than a month after the country's dramatic legal battle with Serbian tennis champion Novak Djokovic, who was ultimately deported after he attempted to play in the Australian Open despite not being vaccinated.

Morrison appeared to reference the high-profile saga in his remarks on Monday, when he stressed the importance of proof of double vaccination for international travelers.

"I think events earlier in the year should have sent a very clear message, I think, to every[one] around the world that that is the requirement to enter into Australia," he said.

www.samigration.com

 

 

                  

 

 

 

South Africa Critical Skills List – SA Migration – Ask us how !!

18 February  2022 – Sa Migration

 

The updated South Africa Critical Skills List was published by the Minister of Home Affairs. It is exciting to see a number of new critical skills being listed that will prove beneficial to companies in a range of industries including IT, engineering and financial services, wishing to bring key talent into the country.

The List provides an opportunity for South Africa’s economical and developmental needs to be met, while at the same time creating job opportunities via skill transfers to locals.

To ensure continued availability of these resources, it is important for businesses and employers to have a clear understanding of the options available.

Please ask our professionals from Sa Migration ,  Africa’s best team for any information around this complex and confusing subject .

 

Areas we can answer include:

•           Overview of the new list compared to the old list
•           Implications of new list on holders of critical skills visa in the Republic
•           Transitional measures for implementing new critical skills visa list
•           Available visa options in terms of South African Immigration Act (Act # 13 of 2002)
•           Action to undertake in cases of either changing category or moving to another visa option

 

How can we help you , please email us to info@samigration.com whatsapp me on:

 +27 82 373 8415, where are you now? check our website : www.samigration.com

 

 

Corruption at Joburg’s Harrison Street Home Affairs office: Paying your way to the front of the queue

18  Feb 2022 – Daily Maverick 

The Home Affairs department is notorious for corruption — for its officials who abuse their positions for ‘cold drink money’. Last week, after hearing complaints from people in Soweto, Maverick Citizen columnist Tshabalira Lebakeng visited the department’s offices in central Johannesburg. This is what he found.

On Wednesday, 9 February 2022, there was a fight between the people and the security at the Home Affairs office in Harrison Street, Johannesburg, due to bribes over the buying of services.

A gentleman who was there told me that a Xhosa-speaking woman was very vocal in raising her concerns, but was not taken seriously. They complained that since the morning, a security guard had been writing ID numbers in a book and openly taking R200 from frustrated customers.

In the afternoon, the line came to a standstill and only those whose names were in the book were allowed inside. That’s when all hell broke loose and customers manhandled the guard. He dropped the book, spilling R200 notes onto the ground, and then ran away. The other security guards claimed not to know him, even though he was wearing the same uniform. 

When I visited the line on Friday, a man I interviewed told me that “a man wearing private clothes was writing on a piece of paper and he came to me and asked for R100”. The man told him the strategy is to frustrate the customers so that they buy a number and then give it to clerks inside to process and call them to sign. 

The question asked by people in the queue is: Is it true that the system is slow or is it being manipulated? How different is the system from the one at Maponya Mall? How long will it take to be like this? Is the head office aware of this problem? The staff are saying they should be paid overtime so that they can work late, but are they also manipulating the system? 

Security officers at the entrance to the offices. Many people allege that paying a bribe (so-called ‘cold drink money’) is the only way to get service.

On Friday, I rushed to see the disgrace of the Harrison Street Home Affairs office. When I got there, I saw a young student who was wearing her school uniform. She was standing in this long line. The sun was hot like hell. She didn’t have an umbrella to protect herself. 

I asked her how long she’s been waiting to go in. She told me she’s been there since seven in the morning. I asked her if the officials saw her, because she’s supposed to be in school. I was asking her that question because students, senior citizens, newborn babies’ mothers and disabled people should be the first priority. 

The young student told me that the officials told her “all people are the same”. 

When I looked in that line, there were ladies being cooked by the sun with their babies. A 45-year-old  gentleman was holding a small piece of paper. He came to me and asked if I’m from a newspaper.

He told me he’s from Noordgesig in Soweto and has been “running up and down to these hell offices”. He told me he just came to collect his ID. But he’s not getting it because at any time the officials will cut the line whenever they want. He says he used his R350 grant money for transport to travel up and down. He is hungry, but he can’t get food because he doesn’t know if he will be helped or he will be coming back tomorrow.

I saw a 30-year-old man sitting on the pavement with his head resting on his hand and asked him, “Indoda ayihlali kanjalo kubuhlungu kuphi?” (“A man is not sitting like that… what is wrong?”) 

He replied, “Grootman, ngithole itoho manje lezinja zingifuna imali ye coldrinki ukuze zingifohlise ngizoyi thathaphi njengo nginjena anginalutho.” (“My brother, I got a small job. But these dogs, they want cold drink money to put me at the front of the line. I don’t know if I should go home or wait for another three hours. I am from Tembisa. It’s a lot of money to come here. If I leave now, I won’t be able to come back tomorrow. Maybe if we can give back the power to the white people. Black people are playing and abusing their power.”

I also found a 62-year-old woman from Diepkloof and her 24-year-old daughter in the line. Her daughter told me she had been coming here for four days to collect her ID. 

On day one, they told her they couldn’t find her ID. On the second day, the officials stopped the line when she was about to go in and told her and other people they must come the next morning. The same thing happened on the third day and so on up to the fifth day.  

The sun, it’s hot and they’re hungry.

Her mother was angry — very angry. “The government is treating South Africans like kaka. (My daughter) is getting taxed R5,000 a month, but this is the rubbish customer service she gets from the criminals who call themselves the government.

“If the system crashes every day, it shows the government is failing to provide for its people. If the minister can’t do his job, he must go home and sleep — he is old. If Motsoaledi [the Minister of Home Affairs] can’t help us, he must give other people a chance to work. Our government, what they know is how to eat and misuse the money.”

Cold drink money

She went on: “Listen, my son, these officials don’t hesitate to come to us outside here and ask for cold drink money. They know that no one will arrest them.  They should be ashamed of themselves. You can ask anyone here… they will tell you about cold drink money.”

Next, I went to a group of young people who were talking among themselves. I asked them about cold drink money. They told me the security guard came to them and said that “if they want to go inside they must have R100 for each person”. 

They told the man he must go to hell — they don’t have money. 

They told me that Indians and foreign nationals pay because they have the money and they get help on time. They told me they witnessed Indians paying as a group and being picked from the line and going straight to the door.  

The young people told me some of them are from the Vaal, Sebokeng, and others from Orange Farm and Soweto. Transport is very expensive and they don’t have money to pay bribes. 

They said that on Thursday morning at 8.30, officials told them they were cutting the line because it was full inside and the system was slow. They were surprised because the offices had only just opened.

The lucky few — those who managed to get to the front of the queue inside the Home Affairs office in Harrison Street, Johannesburg. (Photo: Tshabalira Lebakeng)

“What is working here is R100 or R200. If you don’t have that money? You will stand here in the sun or in the rain.”

They said the security guards had told them to wake up at 3am. They must be in the first 100 in the line. If they come at 5am, they won’t get in. 

I went up to the security guard and pretended I was there to collect an ID. He said I must wait for my chance to come in. I told him my boss wants my ID and that if I don’t have it by tomorrow I will lose my job. He said I must come tomorrow at 3am, like the others, if I want to be number one. 

Then I asked the guard if I could see the manager. He opened the door and I went inside. Another security took me to the supervisor. I introduced myself. He told me he is not supposed to talk to journalists, but what he can say is that there are thousands of IDs to be given to people, so they can’t help more than that. 

When I asked about cutting off the line in the early hours of the morning, he said “I’m going deep now, I should go”. 

I think that “cold drink money” fuels xenophobia because South Africans think that foreign nationals get helped faster when they have money and they are more respected than they are. If you are number one in the line, an official comes and handpicks 10 people who are behind you and helps them. You are left standing with your number one: that’s more than humiliation — it’s nonsense.  

If hundreds of people are shouting about corruption and cold drink money, it shows that Harrison Street Home Affairs is corrupt. The media is needed to stop corruption there.

It was a horror to see senior citizens fried by the sun. Newborn babies cooked by the sun. We can’t sit and watch government departments playing merry-go-round when they are supposed to help the people who are voting for them. 

Who should be arrested for corruption — the minister or his staff? Motsoaledi, do your job or go to sleep. Give other kids a chance to do better.

Despite attempts to get comment from the Department of Home Affairs and promises to respond by 5pm on 15 February, none was forthcoming on 15 February at 9pm. We commit to publish any response that is sent to us after publication. 

The Department of Home Affairs’s spokesperson Siya Qoza responded on 16 February: The Department did receive complaints from the public about allegations of bribery in Harrison Office in Johannesburg. These allegations linked this practice to some homeless people selling queue tickets in the early hours of the morning.
In the short-term, the Department has asked the security company looking after the office to have visibility from 05:00 in order to mitigate against selling of tickets. That office has designed tickets with special features including different colours such that everyday a different type of ticket is issued after the opening of the office for the day. This makes tickets issued by this syndicate irrelevant and unusable.
In addition, the Department has the Counter Corruption Branch which investigates and brings to book all officials who are alleged of wrongdoing. They operate in all areas of Home Affairs and an office such as the one on Harrison Street has attracted their attention.
We encourage members of the public to report wrongdoing to the Department of Home Affairs Counter Corruption Hotline on 012 406 71 88 or send an email to report.corruption@dha.gov.za. They can also contact the National Anti-Corruption Hotline on 0800 701 701
Any person visiting a Home Affairs office can ask to speak to the office manager. The pictures, names and phone numbers of office managers are posted on noticeboards inside our offices.

www.samigration.com

Critical skills list: Government got it wrong, says expert 

City Press – 18-02-2022

Government’s approach to prioritising the employment of South Africans has come under fire. 

Centre for Development and Enterprise executive director Ann Bernstein, says government is tackling the topic of critical skills and employment in the wrong way. Bernstein says South Africa is a country that is desperate for growth, with a shortage of skilled people, entrepreneurs, university lecturers and maths teachers. 

“We are not a country where we just have a shortage for one or two things.” Bernstein said: 

To spend an inordinate amount of time just to determine whether we need sheep shearers or business process managers is ridiculous.

“It’s not like skilled people are desperate to get into the country. We should be actively going out in the world looking for people with skills.” 

The critical question is which skilled people does South Africa not want? 

On Friday, Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi gazetted the updated critical skills list in terms of Section 19(4) of the Immigration Act. 

It outlines the skills most needed in the country and stipulates that: “Subject to any prescribed requirements, a critical skills work visa may be issued by the director-general to an individual possessing such skills or qualifications determined to be critical.”

The Immigration Act provides for the department of home affairs to regulate the “admission of foreigners to, their residence in, and their departure from the republic and for matters connected therewith must ensure that the South African economy has access at all times to the full measure of needed contributions by foreigners and that the contribution of foreigners in the South African labour market does not adversely impact on existing labour standards and the rights and expectations of South African workers”.

The update comes after Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi raised concerns last month about the hiring of foreign nationals who were in the country illegally and “illicit recruitment practices”. 

Nxesi announced that they had developed a new national labour migration policy and proposed amendments to the existing Employment Services Act.

The labour department said the changes were made to help address the country’s population expectations regarding access to work for South Africans, “given the worsening unemployment and perception or views that foreign nationals, especially those who are undocumented, are distorting labour market access.”

The changes include an updated critical skills list and plans to introduce quotas on the number of foreign nationals who can be employed in certain sectors. 

According to Stats SA, the country is currently experiencing the highest unemployment rates since the 2008. Youngsters aged 15 to 24 and 25 to 34 recorded the highest unemployment numbers of 66.5% and 43.8%, respectively. 

But Bernstein said the changes might do more harm than good.

What South Africa needs to do with the millions of unemployed people, the vast majority of whom are young people, is to create a fast-growing and labour-intensive economy.

“We have to change the economy and make the hard decisions so that we become attractive to investors, and some parts of our labour laws so that employers actually want to hire people, not constrained by all sorts of red tape.” 

Bernstein says the country needs to enable small business to get going without a whole lot of regulation and unemployed young people to get into the work force as fast as possible at a lower level than other people. 

National Youth Development Agency CEO Waseem Carrim says the role of the critical skills list is to ensure that the country brings in the skills its needs to grow but balance that with employing the skills that exist. 

“We have participated in and support the process of the critical skills list – a key component of economic growth is leveraging of the skills to take advantage of global opportunities.” Carrim said:

South Africa produces leading graduates and these graduates should be prioritised for employment opportunities.

www.samigration.com