AfriForum Youth plans further legal action against the HPCSA

AfriForum Youth invites medical practitioners, who have been waiting for more than three months for their practitioner number and/or certificate from the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), to approach them so that AfriForum Youth can bring a mandamus application on their behalf to compel the HPCSA to process their application.

This follows after AfriForum Youth was able to establish through a formal application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) that the HPCSA processes only 40% of applications for registration certificates, and only 60% of applications for practitioner numbers, within three months. There are currently 11 682 registration certificates (out of a total of 71 914 since January 2018) that are still outstanding. This means that there are currently 11 682 medical practitioners who are unable to pursue their careers.

“In South Africa, where we often hear that access to medical care is a significant challenge, it is unacceptable that a national council’s administrative delay could lead to graduate medical practitioners not being allowed to practice,” says René van der Vyver, spokesperson for AfriForum Youth.

In May this year, AfriForum Youth started legal action when the organisation sent a letter of attorney to the council on behalf of a graduate medical physicist. AfriForum Youth has demanded that her outstanding certificate be issued with the necessary registration number, which she needs to start working as an independent practitioner. Thanks to the pressure of AfriForum Youth, the student finally received her certificate on 2 June. However, it has become clear to AfriForum Youth that the challenge that medical practitioners experience with the HPCSA is far-reaching.

Medical practitioners who are faced with this challenge can approach AfriForum Youth for assistance by clicking here.