Jobless young doctors in the Eastern Cape, some of whom completed their community service in December and who protested outside the Health Department last week, have no chance of being employed at the moment, according to the MEC, who said there were no funds available to hire them, and that they should stop expecting the state to give them jobs.
News24 reports that a group of unemployed doctors had picketed outside the department’s headquarters in Bhisho last week, with Dr Khulekani Dlamini, who studied medicine at the Walter Sisulu University, claiming there were 126 medical officers, including doctors and dentists, who remained out of work in the province.
“Of that number, about 43 medical officers have not been employed since the end of 2024,” he said, “despite the ongoing poor service delivery in public hospitals, and patients waiting for days for assistance because of the shortage of doctors.”
Health MEC Ntandokazi Capa told News24 she had met with the protesting group, where it was agreed that the department would look at the allocated budget in the 2026/27 financial year.
“But for now, the budget we had (in 2025/26) was to employ 122 medical officers. We have already hired them,” Capa said.
“Beyond that, the department has no money to hire additional doctors. The staff we have just hired have been looking for work for more than a year.”
She said the government funded the protesting doctors’ studies, and that “the least they can do is look for jobs elsewhere, instead of only relying on the Eastern Cape Department of Health for employment”.
“We even gave them permission to look for employment elsewhere. They can also go and open private practices if they wish. The Department of Small Business Development will assist in this regard.”
The unemployed doctors have vowed to intensify their protest until an undertaking is made to hire them.
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Premier issues order to hire doctors
Jobless Eastern Cape doctors threaten to storm provincial Health HQ
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