As confirmed in the Budget Speech for the 2025/2026 financial year, the Department of Health has been allocated extra funds to hire unemployed doctors.
The Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, tabled the National Budget on Wednesday, 12 March in Cape Town.
MINISTER CONFIRMS GOVERNMENT WILL HIRE UNEMPLOYED DOCTORS IN 2025 BUDGET SPEECH
In his speech, Godongwana confirmed that Health spending will grow from R277 billion in 2024/2025 to R329 billion in 2027/2028 to support the equitable provision of public health services, including free primary healthcare.
Godongwana said like in provincial education, a significant portion of the provincial health budget is spent on salaries and wages.
“R28.9 billion is added to the health budget, mainly to keep about 9 300 healthcare workers in our hospitals and clinics. It will also be used to employ 800 post-community service doctors, and to ensure that our pharmacies do not run out of medicine,” Godongwana said.
UNEMPLOYED DOCTORS TAKE TO THE STREETS
In recent years, there has been a public outcry over the large number of unemployed doctors.
In the beginning of 2024, over 800 doctors petitioned the Department of Health for vacancies. Others in KwaZulu-Natal staged a sit in at the provincial department’s offices in Pietermaritzburg.
In February the same year, the Minister of Health Joe Phaahla blamed ballooning salary bills as one of the reasons some doctors that have completed statutory community service programmes, remain unemployed.
Phaahla said the salary bill of medical practitioners takes up more than 60% of hospitals’ budgets.
“It is no secret that employment costs are extremely high – up to 65% of annual budgets in some instances. This, therefore, leaves little for goods and services to make public health facilities provide holistic care uninterrupted,” he said at the time.
Furthermore, the Department of Health said young doctors are refusing to be placed in the rural areas. However, the department later retracted the statement following an outrage from the young and unemployed doctors and the public at large.
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE INCREASE IN HEALTH BUDGET TO HIRE UNEMPLOYED DOCTORS?
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