Unemployed doctors took their protest against their situation to a humanitarian level this week when they gathered at the doorstep of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health’s head office to provide free healthcare treatment to members of the public.  

The provincial-based doctors, who mostly graduated from various universities across the country, had since the beginning of the year staged three protest marches begging the provincial government to give them jobs. 

They said their plea had so far fallen on deaf ears. 

As a result, a group of more than 40 doctors who mostly graduated from the University of KwaZulu-Natal set up a healthcare station, with five blue gazebo tents in front of the Natalia Building in Pietermaritzburg on Wednesday and Thursday.

They said that if the department does not respond to their in-kind protest, they would come back to the same venue to provide healthcare services to the public.

Among the services they provided were consultations and prescriptions, checking blood pressure, and diabetes for members of the public on the busy Langalibalele Street near the city’s biggest long-distance and local taxi rank. 

Their spokesperson, Dr Thamsanqa Zakwe, said that despite being broke, the doctors equipped the station with various healthcare tools, which were donated to them by private practitioners.

“We have been protesting against our unemployment since the beginning of the year,” said Zakwe.

He said the destitute doctors recently met with Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane to discuss their dissatisfaction with the announcement that the province had only 20 medical profession posts to be filled.

Simelane confirmed on June 25 that 20 posts were to be advertised within the next seven days as a beginning of addressing the unemployment of doctors and other healthcare professionals in the province.

Zakwe said the province had previously stated that there were about 300 vacant posts.

“It is their admission because this is what they told Parliament when they were asking for financial assistance for the province,” said Zakwe. 

He said there was a record showing that there were 137 unemployed doctors in the province, which makes 20 posts far less than enough to fill the gap at healthcare centres.

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana increased the national health budget from R277 billion in 2024/25 to R329 billion in 2027/28, due to an additional R28.9 billion earmarked for the employment of 9,300 healthcare professionals in public hospitals and clinics across the country.

This also includes the placement of 800 post-community service doctors to address staffing shortages in critical areas.

“In continuing with our protest, we are urging the MEC and premier to ask the national Health to fast-track the release of the money for the employment of medical staff in the country.

“We are the only province with no budget for new staff employment in 2025,” Zakwe said.

He said other provinces had started recruiting new healthcare workers from their budget, which is separate from the R28.9 billion.

“The situation in KZN is critical, and it should be treated as such,” said Zakwe.

The doctors first protested in January but abandoned the action after being told that the Budget had not been tabled for the 2025/2026 financial year.

After the Budget was tabled with nothing promising for them, they again protested.

“We are coming back now because the Budget has been finalised and we know that there is that R28 million allocation for the employment of not just doctors, but also nurses, pharmacists, and physiotherapists,” he said. 

He said that since Wednesday, there have been more than 120 members of the public per day who came for the free service. 

People were also given contraceptive and men’s healthcare education, and were also advised on how to control their body weight.

He said that some of the doctors were registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa and were qualified to provide services to the public. 

“Some of us have practice numbers. But we have limited our services, taking into account the possible adverse outcome, which might come from dispatching medicine. 

“We limited our services to mostly patient education and testing,” he said.

Despite being visible outside the health head offices, Zakwe said none of the senior health officials came out to interact with doctors.

“Even when we send emails, we have to prob and prob whether they received our email. Even the responses to those emails are not of substance. 

“There is this kind of resistance and reluctance to engage with us on an equal level,” said Zakwe.

Simelane previously said that the provincial budget was enough to absorb all the doctors who had finished their community service this year.

She said she and Premier Thami Ntuli approached President Cyril Ramaphosa, who referred the matter to the cabinet. 

“In the past five years, our department has lost R14 billion to baseline budget cuts. That has greatly affected our ability to expand our staff complement. 

“Nonetheless, we continue to prioritise engagements with Treasury and other stakeholders to unlock resources,” said Simelane.

The department has not yet responded to questions sent to its spokesperson, Ncumisa Mafunda, on Thursday morning. 

DA MPL Dr Imran Keeka said financial constraints made it difficult for the provincial government to absorb the doctors “at present, and any others in the near future”.

“The 20 new appointments being proposed, together with the 150 doctors hired last year, will place further strain on a budget weakened by a decade of underfunding,” said Keeka.    

bongani.hans@inl.co.za 

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