5 January 2006
Issued by: Department of Health
Community service was introduced in 1998 with 26 doctors followed by dentists in 2000 and pharmacists in 2001. In 2003 seven more professions started doing community service, namely, clinical psychology, dietetics, environmental health, occupational health, physiotherapy, radiography and speech, language and hearing therapy.
Nurses will come on board soon after President Thabo Mbeki signs The Nursing Bill into law. It is the prerogative of the Department to make a decision as to which professions do community service and when. Doctors and nurses need to complete one year of community service before going abroad, going to the private sector or starting a private practise.
If health professionals decide to go abroad without finishing the community service, they are required to complete the programme within a period of 2 years before being registered by the Medical and Dental Board of South Africa or SA Nursing Council. If they do 6 months before leaving the country, they are only required to do the remaining 6 months. If they leave before 6 months, they are expected to start afresh (do 12 months) when they return.
The main objective of community service is to improve access to quality health care to all South Africans, more especially in previously under-served areas. This process provides our young professionals with an opportunity to develop skills, acquire knowledge, behaviour patterns and critical thinking that will help them in their professional development.
The introduction of Community Service is also a strategy to improve on the number of health workers in these areas, so as to ensure better access to quality healthcare.
Communities appreciate the multidisciplinary service rendered by community service health professionals. On the side of professionals, especially those who are allocated in the rural areas, the community service experience gives them confidence as they deal with clinical issues as independently of their lecturers as possible. Community service is now second nature to those health professions that do it.
There are 3380 health professionals allocated to community service in 2006:
It is a legal requirement for the 10 health professions mentioned above to do community service upon registering for the first time with their professional councils. At the present moment, only nurses will be joining when the Nursing Bill is promulgated into an Act.
Applicants make five choices from a list of facilities provided by the department. If they are not allocated within those choices, they are given information for choices 6 to 10. The process is repeated until the applicant is allocated.
Dr Percy Mahlathi
Deputy Director General for Human Resources
For information contact:
Charity Bhengu
Media Liaison Officer
(012) 312 0420