IRR engages healthcare organisations on effects of emigration

The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) has invited various healthcare organisations to discuss the effects of the emigration of healthcare professionals on the industry and on healthcare services generally.

South Africa is losing its skills and talents to other countries. The Department of Health estimates that 125,123 healthcare professionals – including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and administrative personnel – left the country in the 12 years between 2013 and 2025.

It is reported that various countries are recruiting from South Africa. Canada, for example, authorised 600 work permits for South African healthcare professionals between 2020 and 2024, with these numbers projected to increase as Canada seeks to make up for staff shortages. Canada is all the more desirable as a destination because it also offers professionals permanent residency after working for a year.

Says IRR Strategic Engagements Manager Makone Maja: “There is surely no doubt that the loss of these highly skilled professionals impinges on healthcare and weakens the industry by putting a strain on those who remain, especially in the public sector.”

The South African Medical Association says just under 6,000 doctors and nurses resign from public hospitals every year.

Says Maja: “The question we must ask as other countries are rolling out the red carpet for our healthcare professionals is what are we doing to compete with the offers from abroad to retain these critical skills? Are our healthcare policies incentivising doctors and nurses to stay or are they adding to the list of reasons our healthcare providers have to emigrate to find better career opportunities?”

Professional bodies the IRR has asked to meet include the South African Private Practitioners Forum, the South African Pharmacy Council, the South African Nursing Council, and the Health Professions Council of South Africa.

“Our goal in meeting these organisations is to deepen our understanding of the adverse effects of the emigration of healthcare professionals. This will inform IRR research and strengthen our healthcare-related policy proposals that seek to prevent the brain drain and relieve the country of the pressures emigration places on the health industry,” Maja concludes.

Media contact: Makone Maja, IRR Strategic Engagements Manager Tel: 079 418 6676 Email: makone@irr.org.za

Media enquiries: Michael Morris IRR Head of Media Tel: 066 302 1968 Email: michael@irr.org.za