- South Africa has more trained doctors than ever, but state hospitals are still understaffed, with the SA Medical Association (Sama) saying there are 1 800 newly qualified doctors, desperate to specialise in the public sector, who can’t find jobs.
- Sama says the issue is not a lack of money, but how the health budget is managed — and that corruption is eating up huge chunks of available funds.
- The health department says it must balance doctor salaries with other costs, like overtime, while waiting for the National Health Insurance scheme to bring efficiency to the system.
- In the interim, efforts are underway to train specialists privately: the Health Beat team examines a partnership between Wits University and the Donald Gordon Medical Centre in Joburg.
In today’s newsletter, our Health Beat team delves into the shortage of jobs for newly trained doctors. Sign up for our newsletter today.
Anna-Maria van Niekerk is Bhekisisa’s news editor. She joined the centre after six years as the managing editor of the investigative television show, Carte Blanche. Anna-Maria has an extensive career in in-depth health and human rights reporting and has been named both the Vodacom Journalist (2002) and Discovery Health Journalist of the Year (2010) for exposés on the selling of human body parts for muti in Limpopo and the devastating consequences of HIV denialism.
Mia Malan is the founder and editor-in-chief of Bhekisisa. She has worked in newsrooms in Johannesburg, Nairobi and Washington, DC, winning more than 30 awards for her radio, print and television work.
Jessica Pitchford is Bhekisisa's TV and multimedia editor. She's been a journalist since the early nineties and has reported on some pivotal events in South Africa’s political history, such as the country’s transition to democracy and the work of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission.
Yolanda Mdzeke was a junior multimedia reporter and multimedia reporter at Bhekisisa between March 2021 and June 2025.
