Despite South Africa’s desperate need for working doctors, hundreds of qualified doctors find themselves unemployed and with no real prospects for work.

South African Minister of Health, Joe Phaahla, has recently addressed the issue and says budget limitations are to blame for the high numbers of unemployment of doctors.

South Africa’s doctors in job crisis

According to Akhtar Hussain, chairperson for the employed doctors forum, almost 1000 doctors who did community service in 2023 find themselves unemployed in 2024. Although it is not clear what the budget constraints are, it is clear that this is an ongoing concern for South Africa’s health sector.

Watch a video shared by The South African Medical Association of Akhtar Hussain addressing the issue:

In June 2022, many aspiring doctors found themselves unable to find community service placements. The health department had not responded to applications despite being two weeks away from the intended start date of community service.

SA Medical Association seeks legal order to get doctors job

The South African Medical Association turned to courts in 2021, in an effort to get the government to expedite the preliminary placements of junior doctors into community service posts, required in order for them to practice. Interns and junior doctors expressed that they believed this was due to poor preparation on the government’s part.

In 2024 , many qualified and aspiring doctors face similar challenges. Sunhera Sukdeo, a recent medical graduate of the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, shared that despite having graduated cum laude, she too is among more than 800 unemployed doctors currently. Sunhera says she applied to several posts on the government website and has yet to hear from any of them. She said:

“I did not get any feedback from any of the eight posts I applied for in Kwazulu-Natal and two posts in Gauteng.”

South African still needs new doctors

Like Sukdeo, many qualified doctors are weighing their options between sitting idly while waiting for governments to get it together or to leave the country. Obviously as more doctors leave the country, the situation gets more dire for the South African population – especially those who rely on public clinics and hospitals.

As it stands, the current doctor-to-patient ratio is reported to be 1:3198 (or 0.3:1000), which means there is less than one doctor available to attend to 1000 patients. The recommended ratio by the World Health Organization is at least 1:1000.