Johannesburg - The possibility of pharmaceutical students not be being able to graduate due to ongoing protests across universities was a concern, the Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa (PSSA) said on Monday.
Pharmacy was identified as one of the scare skills in the health sector, and at least 848 final year pharmacy students have not been able to complete their studies, said PSSA president Sarel Malan. “If pharmacy students are unable to complete their fourth year before January, it is not only going to put both their internships and their community service years at risk, it will result in health risks for patients. This is particularly important because the Department of Health must follow a strict timetable in community service placements, if a healthcare professional fails to take up an allocated post in January, it may not be possible to fill the post at all,” he said.
Pharmacy graduates were required by law to complete a year's internship, followed by another year of community service.
The intention of the community service was to place healthcare professionals in rural and other areas which lacked such professionals, Malan said. “The PSSA is concerned about the ripple effect that ongoing student protests and disruption on university campuses will have on both healthcare professionals and the communities they serve. The PSSA sincerely hopes that continued protests will not jeopardise the health of patients by compromising the future of pharmacy students.”
Students have boycotted lectures for the third week, calling for free decolonised higher education and a no tuition fee increase until government implemented free higher education.
Several campuses that had planned to reopen on Monday saw classes disrupted as students continued to protest.
African News Agency