VerifiedMedical orthotics and prosthetics is the smallest profession on this site. Orthotists and prosthetists design and fit braces, supports and artificial limbs, and there are only a few hundred of them in the country.
It also has one feature that sets it apart from every other profession in this group: it is not on the Department of Health’s community service list. Physiotherapists, occupational therapists, radiographers, dietitians, audiologists and speech therapists all owe a compulsory year. Medical orthotists and prosthetists do not appear on that list, so the year after graduating is yours to plan.
Confirmed 23 September 2026 against the Internship and Community Service Programme list of professions. Check your own position with the board before you rely on it, because the list is amended from time to time.
Registration
You register with the HPCSA Professional Board for Occupational Therapy, Medical Orthotics, Prosthetics and Arts Therapy, the same board as occupational therapy.
Where the funding comes from
The money follows the injuries. Amputation and orthopaedic injury are compensable, so the funds and industries that carry that liability are the ones that fund the training.
- Compensation Fund
- Gauteng Department of Health
- Mpumalanga Provincial Government
- North West Provincial Government
- Northern Cape Provincial Government
- Mediclinic and ER24
- ISFAP
Because the profession is small, so is the number of training places. Secure the university place first and the funding second: a bursary is no use without admission, and admission here is the harder of the two.
See also our occupational therapy bursaries and physiotherapy bursaries pages.