Pretoria - Environmental Health Assistants have been urged to apply for registration with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) by the end of next month.
HPCSA spokesperson Bertha Peters-Scheepers said the Professional Board for Environmental Health of the HPCSA resolved in 2011 to assist people who have been working and/or practicing as Environmental Health Assistants, without a formal qualification, to register with the HPCSA as Environmental Health Assistants.
The following practitioners will qualify for registration:
1) A practicing Environmental Health Assistant with more than two years' experience as an Environmental Health Assistant would have to undergo and successfully complete an assessment;
2) A practicing Environmental Health Assistant with less than two years' experience would have to undergo a three-month mentoring period under the guidance and supervision of a qualified and registered Environmental Health practitioner, followed by an assessment;
3) A practicing Environmental Health Assistant who qualified for registration through the process in (1) and (2) could be registered in a supplementary Register if such applicant had not completed a formal qualification.
Any person who desires to be registered as an Environmental Health Assistant must submit the following documents to the Board for the application to be considered:
* The completed appropriate application form
* Copies of all degree/diploma certificates or similar academic qualifications certified only by an attorney in his capacity as a notary public and bearing the official stamp
* A copy of a valid passport or Identity Document as proof of current citizenship, duly certified
* CV
* Service record and the employer/s' testimonials and official evidence of having completed full time practical training and/or professional experience.
"All applications must reach the Board on or before 31 March 2012, after which applications from people without formal qualification will not be considered for registration," said Peters-Scheepers.
