SAMA | HealthCare Africa Magazine

SAMA condemns healthcare workers discouraging vaccination as vaccine apartheid continues

17 August 202117 August 2021 Editor

SOUTH AFRICA – The South African Medical Association (SAMA) has expressed its dismay at reports that some healthcare workers, including doctors, have discouraged patients from getting COVID-19 vaccinations, based on doubts about the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness. SAMA Chairperson, Dr Angelique Coetzee, said the organisation wholly rejects any doubts about the COVID-19 vaccine. “There is high confidence among the scientific and medical community about the effectiveness and safety of the vaccines being rolled-out in South Africa, and they have also undergone safety and efficacy tests by the South African Health…

South African medics threaten court action as staff shortages hit COVID response Access

2 July 20212 July 2021 Editor

SOUTH AFRICA -The South African Medical Association (SAMA) has threatened to take the government to court because scores of new junior doctors cannot find placements despite staff shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic. SAMA said it was “scandalous” that, during a third wave of infections, 228 medical interns who graduated in March and April were waiting for the government to place them at public hospitals to complete their training. A spokesperson at the Department of Health did not respond to a request for comment. “They (the interns) were supposed to all…