Doctors and nurses protesting outside the health department in Bhisho or the office of the premier have become an all too familiar sight in the Eastern Cape in recent months.
These mainly young men and women had one demand: please give us jobs. Now, their prayers may finally have been answered.
Eastern Cape finance MEC Mlungisi Mvoko on Tuesday announced a massive R1bn investment in the province’s health sector that could bring an end to protracted battles with unemployed health practitioners.
The funds would be made available in the 2025/2026 financial year to hire more than 1,500 health professionals.
It is a lifeline not only to the unemployed doctors and nurses desperate for work, but to all those currently working in understaffed government hospitals and clinics across the province.
The province’s challenges with providing quality health care are known and often highlighted on these very news pages.
Earlier this year, the health portfolio committee met unions and health workers in Kariega to discuss a hospital crisis.
There they heard first-hand of exhausted health workers who were struggling to cope with the workload due to staff shortages.
The impact was also felt by patients, who had to endure long waits just to see a doctor.
In some instances, one hospital staffer revealed to the committee, a patient could wait up to 72 hours.
It is nothing short of disgraceful that anyone should have to wait three days just to see a doctor or get medical help.
Overworked staff run the risk of experiencing burnout or making mistakes in the execution of their duties.
Meanwhile, patient neglect or unhappiness with the service received at public hospitals or clinics only erode public trust in the healthcare system over time.
These government hospitals not only have a moral obligation to provide quality health care to, especially, underserved communities, but it is a human right.
The announcement that 1,500 health professionals would be hired is good news for the province.
Hopefully, it will mean that doctors and nurses will be placed in hospitals and clinics where they are desperately needed, and that the people of this province will receive a better quality of service.
Daily Dispatch