Helen Joseph Hospital Staffing Crisis Disrupts Emergency Care

Original Article by Enkosi Selane | The Citizen | 19 August 2026

The Helen Joseph Hospital staffing crisis raises concerns about emergency care, unpaid doctors, and vacant posts.

Image | The Gift777 | iStock/1138123068

The Helen Joseph Hospital staffing crisis raises concerns about emergency care, unpaid doctors, and vacant posts.

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Dr Thembisile Xulu is the new health Director-General, inheriting a strained department, healthcare-worker shortages and NHI litigation.

Gauteng is losing 100 nurses a month and needs R5.7bn to fill a 16,000-post gap. This shortage now flagged as a key risk to the NHI rollout.

Regulation, not demand, blocks affordable cover: medical schemes should be allowed to offer low-cost benefit options (LCBOs) now.