South Africa faces a nursing crisis that gets far less attention than the shortage of doctors. Nurses are at the frontline of every patient interaction – the ones who catch deterioration early, who advocate at the bedside, who hold the clinical environment together. Without enough of them, well-equipped hospitals underperform. With them, even under-resourced facilities save lives.
Life Healthcare has been training nurses for over 25 years through seven dedicated learning centres. In FY2025 the group invested R76.8 million in nurse training and development – exceeding its own target – and produced 336 undergraduate nursing graduates, up from 231 three years earlier.
The group has extended the retirement age for experienced nurses, created structured postgraduate programmes, and committed to training 35 medical specialists, 40 surgical specialists and 40 sub-specialists over the next nine years.
As Chief Nurse Officer Merle Victor puts it: “Having the right nurse with the right skills at the patient bedside is key to safe, effective care.”
It is a large-scale, long-term investment in a workforce that the whole healthcare system – public and private – depends on. And Life Healthcare is not the only one making it. Netcare Foundation nursing, paramedic and pharmacy bursaries support students in training to ensure they do not drop off the training programme
The fellowships
There is a cardiologist in KwaZulu-Natal who will, when his fellowship is complete, take up a post at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital. He will not go into private practice – he is contractually committed to work in the state sector for a period equivalent to the length of his training. The same is true of his colleague, placed at Greys Hospital. Both fellowships are funded by Mediclinic.
This is not philanthropy as most people understand it. There is no cheque handed over, no logo on a wall. Mediclinic’s current programme covers two cardiology fellowships at University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), two nephrology fellowships also at UKZN, a paediatric nephrology position at Steve Biko Academic Hospital through the University of Pretoria, and one orthopaedic position.
The logic, says Bob Govender, who manages the programme, is straightforward: South Africa does not have enough specialists, and the shortage is felt most acutely in the public sector.
“The idea is to bolster capacity within the public sector hospitals.”
The fellowships run through to 2027 and 2028 depending on speciality. Once complete, Govender says the focus will shift to specialised nursing – particularly critical care, where the shortage is arguably more acute than the shortage of doctors.
“Right now, there’s a bigger need for nursing care in South Africa than there is for doctors.” The programme is designed to respond to need, not to entrench itself in any single area.
Netcare’s foundation funds sub-specialist training with a deliberately narrow focus: only fields where South Africa’s need is most critical. General physicians are not supported, but paediatric cardiologists, trauma surgeons and emergency medicine specialists are.
One beneficiary, Dr Sechaba Palweni, studied cardiology with foundation support and is now among the country’s emerging transplant surgeons. Another, Dr Shivani Pillay, specialised in emergency medicine. The stories are told not as marketing, but as evidence that the investment works.
Nurses and pharmacists
Life Healthcare’s nursing investment extends well beyond undergraduate training. A 12-month internship programme for pharmacy graduates provides hospital-level practical experience, while a pharmacist assistant programme developed with HWSETA prioritises previously disadvantaged candidates. The group has also partnered with HWSETA to develop pharmacist assistants and create career paths for junior employees – widening access to healthcare careers as well as improving patient care.
Lenmed contributes at the primary care level, running continuing medical education programmes for GPs in its catchment areas – regional weekend symposiums and CPD-accredited sessions run in partnership with specialists from within the group’s hospitals. The aim is to keep community doctors current, improving primary care in areas where Lenmed operates – which are, by design and by history, predominantly previously disadvantaged communities.
Why it matters
South Africa trains fewer specialists per capita than most comparable middle-income countries. The gap between what the public sector needs and what it can retain is structural: specialists who train in the state often move to private practice or emigrate. The fellowships, bursaries and training programmes that HASA’s members fund are a partial, imperfect answer to that structural problem – but they are producing doctors who go back.
“When the state cannot provide employment,” says Govender, “then obviously they go out and look for private practice. But the idea is to bolster capacity within the public sector hospitals.”
It is, at its core, an investment in the country – not as a marketing exercise, but because it needs to be done.
At a glance
Key Figures
Delivering care where it’s needed most
Life Healthcare invested R76.8 million in nurse training and development in FY2025, producing 336 undergraduate graduates
Mediclinic funds specialist fellowships at UKZN and the University of Pretoria, with fellows contractually obligated to work in public sector hospitals on completion
The group plans to train 35 medical specialists, 40 surgical specialists and 40 sub-specialists over the next nine years
Netcare’s foundation funds sub-specialist training in high-need fields: paediatric cardiology, trauma and emergency medicine, as well as nursing, paramedic and pharmacy bursaries
Lenmed runs CPD-accredited GP training programmes in its catchment communities, improving primary care where it is most needed