While many South Africans perceive their public healthcare system as deteriorating, recent evidence reveals a more complex reality, showing improvements in healthcare capacity despite ongoing challenges.
Speak to almost any South African about public healthcare and the verdict is likely to be harsh. Long queues, overcrowded facilities, overworked staff and uneven service delivery have left many citizens convinced that the health system is steadily deteriorating.
The frustrations are real. But the evidence tells a more complicated story.
One of the more surprising findings to emerge from the Inclusive Society Institute's recent report, Health in South Africa, is that key measures of healthcare capacity have actually improved over time. The number of people served by each public-sector doctor fell from 4,143 in 2002 to 2,795 in 2023. The number of people per nurse improved from 496 to 446 over the same period. Pharmaceutical capacity improved even more dramatically, with the number of people served by each public-sector pharmacist falling from 40,263 in 2000 to 10,436 in 2023. And emergency medical services have also also expanded, with the number of ambulance service providers increasing from 713 in 2019 to 834 in 2024.
