Salary & money

Your first payslip as a doctor is more complicated than a single number. Public-service pay is built from several parts, and a few choices (your package type, your benefits, your tax setup) change what lands in your account. This guide explains how the pieces fit together. It doesn’t quote exact rands, because the salary scales and tax tables change every year. For a precise figure, use the current DPSA scale and SARS tables.

What your package is made of

Your earnings come from a few parts:

• A basic salary, set by your grade and notch on the DPSA scale.
• Commuted overtime, a fixed monthly amount for your after-hours work (more below).
• A rural allowance, if your post qualifies.
• Benefits, meaning medical aid (GEMS) and pension (GEPF), with an employer contribution on the government package.

Government vs non-government package

You’ll choose between two ways of taking your package. On the government package, your medical aid and pension are arranged for you with an employer contribution, and you can take an optional 13th cheque in your birth month. On the non-government package, you take fuller cash pay and arrange your own benefits, with the 13th cheque spread across your monthly salary. Neither is automatically better. It depends on your circumstances and how much you value the employer’s contribution to your benefits.

Commuted overtime

Interns’ after-hours work is paid as commuted (fixed) overtime, and interns usually sign Category 3, paid at about 1.3 times the normal hourly rate. The exact rand value depends on your notch and the current public-service overtime rules, so we don’t reproduce a formula here. It’s exactly the kind of figure that drifts. A take-home calculator is on the way; until then, use the current DPSA scale.

Rough salary bands

As a dated, rough reference only: an entry-level medical officer earns upward of about R900,000 a year, passing R1 million after a few years, with senior (Grade 3) officers around R1.2 to R1.5 million under the occupation-specific dispensation (OSD). These move with each annual adjustment, so check the current DPSA OSD scale for real numbers.

Tax and deductions

Give HR your SARS tax number and bank details before you sign, so your salary isn’t delayed. PAYE comes off automatically, and as a first-time earner you may even see a small refund in your first month or two as the rate settles. The one non-negotiable deduction is tax; optional ones include GEPF, GEMS and a union subscription. SAMA is a professional association, not a trade union, so its fees are voluntary and aren’t on Persal, and interns don’t pay the bargaining-council agency fee. As reference rates, GEPF is generally 7.5% from you and 13% from the employer, while the SARS PAYE brackets and GEMS contributions are set each year.