KUGOMPO CITY - Eastern Cape health workers are demanding that the provincial government urgently hire doctors.
They said more than a hundred qualified doctors remain unemployed in the province.
The professionals marched ahead of the Premier Oscar Mabuyane’s State of the Province Address.
"We have 126 doctors that are facing unemployment. We've got eight dentists. And we are not so sure about the number of nurses, but there are way more nurses that are also unemployed,” said Khulekani Dlamini, also an unemployed doctor.
Dlamini said the challenge of joblessness for health professionals in the province has been ongoing.
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He said they had also noted a concerning trend where some people who were on the list after their release date got employment.
“We don't know because of the connections that they might have, how they get to jump the queue and get employment.”
Last January, Mabuyane committed to addressing the pressing issue of unemployed doctors in the province. While acknowledging the need for more doctors across the province, Mabuyane said the Department of Health faced budgetary constraints, partly due to unbudgeted medico-legal claims.
He said at the time that provincial government was exploring short-to-long-term initiatives aimed at addressing the issue of unemployment among medical professionals, as well as partnerships with private sector healthcare providers.