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Health Professions Act, 1974 (Act No. 56 of 1974)

Regulations

Regulations relating to the Specialities and Subspecialities in Medicine and Dentistry

6. Requirements for Registration of a Medical Practitioner in the Category Independent Practice (Specialist)

 

(1) A medical practitioner who holds registration in the category independent practice (general practitioner) and who wishes to be registered in the category independent practice (specialist) in terms of the Act, shall—
(a) submit proof to the board that he or she has obtained a specialist qualification in the relevant speciality in medicine which is accredited by and the standard of which shall be acceptable to the board;
(b) submit proof to the board that he or she has fully complied with—
(i) the period of internship training prescribed in the regulations made under section 61(1)(e) of the Act; plus
(ii) a further twelve months’ experience in any one or more of the disciplines of medicine which may include research; or
(iii) after 1 July 1998, the period of community service prescribed in the regulations made under section 24A of the Act; and
(iv) the period of education and training prescribed in regulation 6(2) of these regulations.
(c) submit his or her application for registration as a specialist to the board on an application form supplied by the board which shall be duly completed;
(d) pay the prescribed registration fee.

 

(2) Apart from the requirements in subregulation (1), the following requirements shall apply to the specialities listed:
(a) In the case of the specialities Anaesthesiology, Dermatology, Medical Genetics, Medicine, Neurology, Nuclear Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ophthalmology, Orthopaedics, Otorhinolaryngology, Paediatrics, Psychiatry, Radiation Oncology, and Urology, a person shall have obtained at least four years' satisfactory education and training as the holder of a board -approved post as registrar at a hospital. department or facility accredited by the board for specialist education and training.

[Regulation 6(2)(a) substituted by section 5(a) of Notice No. 376, GG43145, dated 27 March 2020]

(b) In the case of the speciality Community Health, a person shall have obtained at least four years' education and training as referred to in paragraph (a), in all the subjects of Community Health under the supervision of the department of community health of a higher education institution accredited by the board.
(c) In the case of the speciality Obstetrics and Gynaecology, education and training as referred to in paragraph (a), shall include a minimum period of twelve months' education and training in each of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in a teaching hospital.
(d) In the case of the specialities Pathology (Anatomical), (Chemical), (Forensic), (Haematological), (Microbiological) and (Virological), a person shall have obtained at least four years' education and training as referred to in paragraph (a).
(e) In the case of the speciality Pathology (Anatomical), the said four years' education and training shall include the equivalent of six months' education and training in Cytology and, in addition, the applicant shall submit proof that he or she had been examined in Cytology to the satisfaction of the board.
(f) In the case of the speciality Pathology (Clinical), a person shall have obtained at least four years' education and training as referred to in paragraph (a) which shall have included at least six months in Pathology (Haematological) and at least nine months in each of Pathology (Anatomical), (Chemical) and (Microbiological): Provided that education and training in the speciality Pathology (Clinical) which commenced after 1 January 1980, shall have included at least twelve months of education and training in each of Pathology (Chemical), (Haematological) and (Microbiological).
(g) In the case of the speciality Pathology (Virological), the said education and training shall have included education and training in Immunology, general Medical Microbiology and Molecular Biology.
(h) In the case of a person who was registered as a specialist in Pathology (Anatomical), (Chemical), (Forensic), (Haematological), (Microbiological) or (Virological) and who wishes also to be registered as a specialist in one of the related specialities, a further two years of such education and training and a specialist qualification referred to in paragraph (a) of subregulation (1), in the additional speciality shall be required.
(i) In the case of a person who was registered as a specialist in Pathology (Clinical) and who wishes also to be registered as a specialist in Pathology (Anatomical), a further three years of such education and training in Pathology (Anatomical) shall be required, but if such a person wishes to be registered as a specialist in one of the other related specialities, he or she shall have obtained at least two further years of such education and training in the speciality concerned and obtained the relevant specialist qualification.

(j)

(i) In the case of the speciality Psychiatry, education and training as referred to in paragraph (a), shall have included a minimum period of twelve months' education and training in a psychiatric hospital, of which at least six months shall have been in a psychiatric hospital which is also a teaching hospital.
(ii) The provisions of paragraph (c) of subregulation (3) shall mutatis mutandis apply in respect of recognition granted for education and training obtained at a psychiatric hospital, department or facility which was accredited as a satellite hospital, department or facility.
(m) In the case of the specialities Cardiothoracic Surgery, Diagnostic Radiology. ENT (Otorrhinolaryngology), General Surgery, Neurosurgery, Obsteterics and Gynaecology, Ophthalmology, Orthopaedic Surgery, Paediatric Surgery, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Urology, a person shall have obtained at least five years satisfactory education and training as the holder of a board-approved post as registrar at a hospital, department or facility accredited by the board for specialist education and training.

[Regulation 6(2)(m) inserted by section 5(b) of Notice No. 376, GG43145, dated 27 March 2020]

 

(3) With reference to the education and training referred to in subregulation (2)—
(a) education and training obtained—
(i) in South Africa, shall be recognised by the board only if—
(aa) the applicant was registered as a medical practitioner in terms of the Act for the full duration of the training of the speciality; and

[Regulation 6(3)(a)(i)(aa) substituted by section 5(c) of Notice No. 376, GG43145, dated 27 March 2020]

(bb) the applicant’s name appeared on the register of registrars (medical) which is kept in terms of regulation 13 hereof;
(ii) partly in any country other than South Africa, shall be recognised by the board only if the person was registered as a medical practitioner with the relevant registering authority for the full duration thereof:

Provided that exemption from the requirement in subparagraph (ii) may be granted at the discretion of the board;

(b) education and training obtained partly in any country other than South Africa, shall be recognised by the board only if the applicant submits documentary proof, issued by the foreign university or other educational institution, to certify that—
(i) the hospital or hospitals at which the applicant was educated and trained, is/are or was/were a teaching hospital or hospitals of the faculty of medicine or medical school of that particular university or other educational institution;
(ii) that hospital or hospitals is/are or was/were approved and recognised to provide specialist education and training in the applicant’s speciality;
(iii) the specified period which the applicant had spent at the hospital or hospitals in question, is regarded and recognised by that university or other educational institution as a period of education and training in the applicant’s speciality;
(c) education and training of less than six months' duration in a hospital, department or facility shall not be recognised by the board, unless—
(i) the person concerned spent a period not exceeding three months at a hospital, department or facility approved by the relevant faculty of medicine or health sciences as part of the education and training of four years referred to in subregulation (2);
(ii) the person concerned, with the permission of the relevant faculty of medicine or health sciences, alternated his or her education and training with education and training at the different faculties of medicine or health sciences in South Africa as holder of a post of registrar approved by the board in the discipline concerned: Provided that, in the case of the specialities in Pathology, the said period of six months shall be reduced to four months;
(d) education and training for such period as may be determined by the board during the accreditation process, shall be recognised if obtained as holder of a post of registrar at a hospital, department or facility which was accredited by the board as a satellite hospital, department or facility.

 

(4)

(a) The minimum duration of education and training to be spent by a person as holder of a post of registrar under the control of an academic teaching department in a teaching hospital, shall be as determined by the board during the accreditation process.
(b) For the purposes of this regulation, an academic teaching department at a teaching hospital, means a department and hospital accredited as such by the board.

 

(5) Credit, on a basis to be determined by resolution of the board from time to time, may be granted by the board for education and training obtained by a person as part-time holder of a post of registrar approved by the board.

 

(6) Credit for a maximum of twelve months may be granted by the board as part of the four years' education and training prescribed by this regulation for—
(a) education and training obtained in a discipline considered by the board to be related to the applicant’s speciality;
(b) research considered by the board to be appropriate in the applicant’s speciality or in a discipline considered by the board to be related to that person’s speciality.