Despite South Africa’s growing shortage of healthcare workers, President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed concern over the increasing number of nurses and doctors leaving the country to work abroad. Medical expert Dr Angelique Coetzee shed light on some of the key reasons behind this trend, citing systemic challenges in the public healthcare sector.
“They’re leaving because of various reasons,” Coetzee explained. “One of the important things to understand is that in our public sector, we have a doctor-to-patient ratio of about 0.31 per 1,000 people, while in the private sector, it’s around 0.8. Compare that to Zimbabwe, which has a ratio of 1.7 per 1,000. Doctors in the country face severe burnout and stress therefore they leave the country for better opportunities.”
Coetzee added that the strain on public health professionals, combined with better opportunities abroad, is a major factor driving the exodus. While access to established health insurance systems in other countries plays a role, uncertainty around South Africa’s proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) is also contributing to doctors’ decisions to leave.
“The uncertainty of the NHI will push doctors out,” she said. “And when you add high crime rates and the difficulty doctors face in getting appointed locally, it becomes an even greater concern.”
Listen to the full interview below:
VOC News
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