Doctors plead for President to intervene in jobs crisis

Medical association writes to Ramaphosa, march planned to Union Buildings in Pretoria

The SA Medical Association wrote to President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday asking him to intervene in an unemployment crisis affecting junior doctors nationally.

The letter states that more than 1,800 doctors across SA had completed their mandatory community service and demonstrated their willingness to work even in the most underserved areas.

Sama chair Dr Mvuyisi Mzukwa said many departments in public hospitals were dangerously understaffed, leaving existing staff to shoulder unsustainable workloads.

He emphasised that burnout and depression were at an alltime high, yet the quality of patient care was in decline.

Sama Trade Union Eastern Cape chair Dr Mpumelelo Melamane said they had recently met premier Oscar Mabuyane who decided that the doctors must be employed.

“We made it known that if they are not employing doctors they are denying people of the Eastern Cape their constitutional right. Chapter 27 states people have the right to access healthcare.”

This week, members from across the country will march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria, alongside other health workers, to draw attention to the matter.

“This is affecting the entire country.

“And it is not the first January we have seen unemployed doctors,” Melamane said.

“Our proposal is the same as the one suggested by Mabuyane — to redirect funds to the department.

“Funds are there and administrators should redirect them for employment purposes.”

At present, funds were prioritised for a tender system in which hospitals and clinics were built or refurbished.

“If they can see there is no staff, why are they continuing to build?

“So our march will be directed to the Treasury and the minister of health to tell them to stop prioritising things that are not assisting people.”

Last week, Mabuyane gave the department six weeks to start employing the doctors, using money to be redirected from other programmes in the health budget.

About 170 unemployed doctors had again marched to Mabuyane’s office in Bhisho, where they had been protesting for weeks, threatening to collapse the province’s healthcare system.

The group is said to have the full support of all healthcare workers in the province and country.

Mabuyane confirmed he had ordered the health department to redirect some of its dwindling budget towards the employment of the doctors before the end of the financial year in March.

Other unemployed doctors would be contracted after April 1, when the department receives its new budget for the 2025/2026 financial year.

A meeting on Sunday was allegedly held amid a standoff between the health department and the provincial treasury over health’s overtime bill.

Mabuyane said it was decided at the meeting to scrap accruing commuted overtime pay as of April 1.

This meant the planned allocation of R960.5m in the 2025/2026 financial year, or R3bn in the medium-term expenditure framework, could be redirected to employ the muchneeded additional doctors and other clinical staff.

Sama’s Mzukwa said: “We urge the government to develop a comprehensive plan to address the root causes of this crisis.

“Left unresolved, this situation will lead to deteriorating healthcare services.

“This, in turn will cause loss of skilled professionals to the private sector and abroad and, ultimately, the collapse of our public healthcare system.”

Provincial health head of department Dr Rolene Wagner said a notice to clarify an advertisement published on December 6 2024 on the department website and Facebook was authentic.

The advert had opportunities for nurses, medical officers and dentists.

“The block advertisement was published in December and republished to ensure maximum penetration,” she said.

Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya could not comment on the provincial demands and referred questions to the national health department.

National health spokesperson Foster Mohale said: “The issue is about budget to pay their salaries, not places to work from.

“We need more health professionals including medical doctors in the public health sector.

“One of the main solutions to address unemployment of doctors and other graduates is budget.

“The department has been in discussions with provinces and the Treasury to find a longlasting solution to this.”

The issue is about budget to pay their salaries, not places to work from