The Colleges of Medicine of SA (CMSA) has warned that provincial austerity measures are dismantling the country’s specialist training pipeline and threatening the sustainability of the public health, undermining constitutional access to quality healthcare and long-term workforce planning. – Business Day (15 Dec 2025)
Despite a critically low doctor-to-patient ratio, at least 1,800 junior doctors remain unemployed after community service. Major hospitals, especially in Gauteng, have lost key specialist skills, while registrar training bottlenecks and weak supervision persist. CMSA cautions that these pressures are accelerating brain drain and deepening an already fragile health system.