Top doctors at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital raise funds for unpaid interns

Senior doctors at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital are now digging into their own pockets to help 10 medical interns get through the next few days while the government blames administration issues for its failure to pay them.

These interns have not received a single salary so far this year and the senior doctors at the state-owned hospital held a meeting on Thursday to find solutions among themselves to help the group cover basics like food, rent and transport.

The Gauteng Health Department claims that too many interns were initially allocated to the hospital and that they needed to deal with the admin of creating additional posts.

Doctor Merika Tsitsi told the publication that a group of them held a meeting on Thursday to raise funds to help the 10 unpaid medical interns buy food and pay for transport.

One of the interns told the publication that she had lost weight over the last two months because she did not have enough money to buy food to keep her going through her 12-hour shifts.

Dr Tsitsi said that the medical interns played a pivotal role in the public health sector and they simply could not stand by and watch them suffer.

“They are an important asset to the medical profession. Because of this, we have decided we can’t work side-by-side with them while we know they are experiencing difficulties in their personal lives. That’s why we have decided to help them,” Tsitsi said.

Tsitsi said that they had been informed that the medical interns were likely to be paid their first salary sometime next week.

However, the interns said that the government had made this promise before and they would only believe it when the payments were reflected in their bank accounts.

-EWN

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