This comes after protests broke out across the province last week, sparked by the continued unemployment of more than 150 qualified doctors. The PSA has criticised the government for failing to honour its commitments to healthcare reform while public hospitals remain understaffed and newly qualified doctors sit idle.

Mlungisi Ndlovu, the PSA’s Provincial Manager in KZN , says the organisation fully supports the strike by unemployed doctors and is calling for urgent action from national authorities.

“As PSA KZN, we support the strike of these unemployed doctors. The department has not yet specified the formula for allocations. Based on population distribution, we believe KZN should receive no less than 20% of the 1 200 available positions, that’s at least 200 posts,” said Ndlovu.

He added that while the provincial Health MEC has engaged with the affected doctors, no clear response or plan has been communicated.

“It is for this reason that we are calling on the Minister to intervene and for National Treasury to allocate funding so that these positions can be advertised and filled,” Ndlovu said.

--ChannelAfrica--