Community service for doctors could be contributing to exodus

Compulsory community service for young South African doctors could be pushing more into leaving the country, ‘Business Day’ reported on Wednesday, quoting a newly published study. The study, in the latest issue of SA Medical Journal, found that a third of doctors surveyed intended to seek employment abroad after completing their year of community service. One of the implicit aims of the health department in introducing community service was to slow the exodus of young health professionals to greener pastures overseas.

“It would appear that community service has no effect on the career plans of doctors, but merely delays them for a year,” Steve Reid, author of the report, said. “This brings into question the long-term effects of community service, which may be exacerbating rather than lessening the tendency of young doctors to leave the country,” he added. But the survey said that most health facilities investigated reported positive effects, bolstering the health department’s argument that community doctors are enhancing health care, particularly in rural areas.

The survey also found that in general, the response of community service doctors to the challenges and difficulties in public service hospitals had been encouragingly positive, particularly in terms of professional development. The realisation by community service doctors that they were actually making a difference in communities had been a huge motivation, the report stated.