NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO. 3178
DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 15 NOVEMBER 2013
(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NO. 38)
Mrs D Robinson (DA) to ask the Minister of Health:
(1) What is the (a) required number in terms of staffing norms and (b)
registered number of practising (i) psychiatrists and (ii) clinical
psychologists;
(2) how is his department fulfilling its obligations with regard to the
Child Justice Act, Act 75 of 2008, for the assessment of children by
psychiatrists or clinical psychologists given the lack of such
professionals in the public sector?
NW3736E
REPLY:
1) (a) There are no formal staffing norms for psychiatrists and
clinical psychologists, however comparisons with other countries
gives some indication of provision. South Africa has slightly more
psychiatrists and substantially more psychologists than the world
average. In comparison with upper-middle income countries South
Africa has less psychiatrists but more psychologists than the
median for upper middle-income countries.
However distribution is unequal between the private and public
sectors and hence while professional to population ratios in South
Africa as a whole are higher than world averages, ratios in the
public sector â especially for psychiatrists - are lower than the
world average and substantially lower than the middle income
country median.
Psychiatrists Psychologists
South Africa 1.47 5
South Africa (public sector) 0.28 0.32
Upper middle[1] 2.03 1.8
World 1.27 0,33
(b) According to the Health Professions Council, 765 psychiatrists
and 2650 clinical psychologists were registered in 2013.
Fulfilling the obligations with regard to the Child Justice Act, Act
75 of 2000 for the assessment of children is a challenge in view of
the limited number and availability of psychiatrists and clinical
psychologists in the public sector and due to the lack of willingness
of most private sector mental health professionals to conduct these
assessments. Moreover forensic mental health requires specific skills
that are generally not integral to professional training.
In order to improve this limited capacity the College of Medicine has
created forensics as a specialty for psychiatrists and Forensic
psychology has recently been made a sub-specialty by the Health
Professions Council of South Africa. The Department of Justice and
Constitutional Development, after liaison with the Department of
Health, reviews and increases payment of a periodic basis to encourage
more mental health professionals to conduct assessments, including
with regard to the Child Justice Act.
END.
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[1] Figures for world and middle income countries taken from the Lancet
Journal 2011 â Kakuma et al. Vol 378.