sector skills plan for the health sector in south africa

PERSAL database
The PERSAL system keeps individual records of all the workers in the Public Service – i.e. the workers in
the national and provincial state departments. Access to the data of the health departments was
provided by the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA).
For the purposes of this SSP the two private sector databases were combined in such a way that
duplication was avoided. The occupational information contained in the MEDpages database and the
PERSAL system was coded to the OFO.
a) Total employment
The three databases combined provided information on 460 000 people who are formally employed in
the health sector. Of these, 179 000 (39%) are employed in private sector organisations and levy-paying
public sector organisations (referred to later as the “private sector”), while 281 000 (61%) work in the
public health departments. Both the Public Service and the private sector figures are still underestimates
of the total number of employees in the sector. Definitely excluded from the private sector
figures are the non-professional support staff employed in the private professional practices and
employees in the non-levy paying NGOs. Excluded from the Public Service figures are the medical
personnel employed in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF). 37
b) Occupational distribution of employment
Table 2-1 shows a breakdown of total employment according to the main occupational groups of the
OFO.
In both the Public Service and in the private sector managers constitute approximately 4% of total
employment. Almost half (47%) of employees in the private sector are employed as professionals and
28% in the Public Service. Professionals include medical and dental specialists and practitioners,
registered nurses, pharmacists, and other health-related occupations such as occupational therapists
and psychologists. The category also includes professionals such as human resource professionals,
financial professionals and scientists. Estimates of employment in selected professional occupations can
be seen in Table 2-2.
Community and personal service workers in the Public Service constitute 42% of total employment and
in the private sector 22%. This category mainly comprises enrolled and auxiliary nurses, emergency
service and ambulance workers, and food and auxiliary hospital workers and aides. Sales workers
include pharmacy assistants working in retail, hospital and industrial pharmacies.
37 The SANDF has a separate payment system and its staff are not recorded on PERSAL.
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