According to Dr. Mpumelelo Melamane, chairman of the South African Medical Association Trade Union (Samatu) in the Eastern Cape, there is an extreme shortage of qualified doctors in South Africa, with one doctor dealing with more than 200 patients in proportion to the country’s population and doctors.
Melamane led a large number of unemployed doctors from the Eastern Cape in a protest march to the office of the Premier of the Eastern Cape, Oscar Mabuyane, in Bhisho to hand over a petition.
He stated that the country has approximately 29,000 qualified doctors who care for 60 million people, with only 60% of that number working in public health care, which is under great strain because it is responsible for the majority of the country’s population who rely on public health facilities.
“Out of those 29,000, about 40% of them work in the private sector and that means 60% in the public sector are dealing with the majority of people in the country who do not have medical aid and cannot afford private treatment.
“This means that the doctor on duty at the government hospital will sometimes be unable to eat lunch because there are long lines of patients,” Melamane explained.
A doctor who is now unemployed after completing their public service says it has been difficult to see themselves without income and with monthly bills.
Here are some pictures from the march taken by Bheki Radebe:
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