Gauteng health MEC says hospitals and clinics are over capacity
Gauteng Health MEC Faith Mazibuko said the province is short of almost more than 4,000 nurses and that facilities operate beyond official capacity. She asked business leaders at a Progressive Business Forum colloquium to partner with government on hospitals and clinics.
Mazibuko spoke on Thursday at the colloquium on Investing in Health and Wellness. She said the province recorded about 33 million healthcare service contacts in 2025/26. Another figure she gave was over 20 million patient contacts for the same year.
She said provincial hospitals had close to 5.8 million outpatient visits and 670,807 inpatient admissions. Clinics saw 8,026,972 patients, and outreach programmes reached 8,491,700 patients.
Mazibuko said Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital has a registered capacity of 1,500 beds but uses almost 2,000. She said: "Our bed capacity also is not assisting us." She also said nurses are overworked and exhausted.
She said the province has many unemployed doctors but cannot hire more because of personnel and fiscal limits. She said some community members spend more than R45 to reach a clinic, so some mothers miss child immunisation. Speaker Monique Marks said patients get lost in the system, with no follow-up care.
Key facts
- Who
- Faith Mazibuko (Gauteng MEC for health); Monique Marks (life coach and speaker at the colloquium); Progressive Business Forum (organiser of the colloquium on Investing in Health and Wellness)
- What
- Mazibuko told a Progressive Business Forum colloquium on Investing in Health and Wellness that Gauteng's public health system is under strain, with about 33 million healthcare service contacts in 2025/26, facilities beyond official capacity, and a shortage of nearly 4,000 nurses. She appealed to business leaders to partner with government on hospitals and clinics.
- When
- 22 October 2026
- Where
- Gauteng, Diepsloot, Olievenhoutbosch
- Status
- Reported