KwaZulu-Natal health department ends pharmacy intern freeze

The KwaZulu-Natal health department has reversed its controversial decision to freeze pharmacy internship posts after an outcry from unions and the profession.

On Saturday the department said it was under such severe budget pressure that it would provide only medical intern and community service posts for 2026, leaving health graduates from other disciplines high and dry.

Its move prompted the Public Servants Association (PSA) trade union and South Africa’s biggest industry body for independent pharmacies, the Independent Community Pharmacy Association (ICPA), to call on health minister Aaron Motsoaledi to intervene.

In a brief statement issued on Wednesday afternoon, KwaZulu-Natal health MEC Nomagugu Simelane said national funding has been reprioritised to enable the province to open applications for pharmacy and psychology interns. But it is not clear how much money has been made available, how many positions will be filled or why other internship posts for disciplines such as dentistry and speech therapy remain frozen. The department was not immediately available to comment.

After they graduate, all aspirant health professionals must complete a one- or two-year internship, followed by one year of community service before they can register in their chosen profession. Without an internship position they are in limbo as they cannot take up a community service post or work in their profession.

The KwaZulu-Natal health department is one of four that are in such a poor financial state that they are at risk of being placed under administration, Business Day reported in December. The others are Gauteng, the Northern Cape and Free State.

The department did not respond to questions posed by Business Day earlier this week about its budget, but figures presented to parliament last year by the national health department show its accruals have soared in the past five years, rising from R1.78bn at the end of 2020/21 to R3.27bn in 2024/25.

Accruals are unpaid debts to suppliers that are rolled over from one financial year to the next and are a measure of an entity’s capacity to manage its budget. Settling its accruals accounted for 5.8% of the KwaZulu-Natal health department’s 2025/26 budget allocation of R56.2bn.

Earlier this week the PSA acting national manager for member affairs, Mlungisi Ndlovu, said closing the door on internship positions would harm healthcare graduates and the patients who depend on their care.

The ICPA on Monday warned that the department’s decision would severely affect services for patients. “We are also concerned it will add to the crisis of unemployed pharmacists. We urge the minister of health to urgently intervene, together with the National Treasury, to solve this crisis in the interest of our patients, the interns and the profession of pharmacy,” it said at the time.

National health department chief director for human resources Luvuyo Bayeni told Business Day the allocation of internship posts is largely a provincial responsibility, as only medical interns and community service posts are managed centrally.

Motsoaledi commissioned a review of the government’s internship and community service policy last April, but it has yet to be finalised. Among the public submissions was a request that pharmacy interns be included in the centrally managed system, said Baleni.