KwaZulu-Natal's doctors seeking job posts received some hope when the provincial health department finally relented and committed to advertising new posts.

Unemployed doctors in KwaZulu-Natal who had hoped for a resolution to their plight after two months of protests were finally rewarded this week when the provincial health department committed to advertising 120 posts with immediate effect.

The doctors had been staging a peaceful sit-in at the department's headquarters in Pietermaritzburg since the beginning of April. Their protests, however, had begun in mid-February after Minister of Health Joe Phaahla announced that extra funds would be made available to employ doctors who had fulfilled their community service obligations.

In a statement released on Tuesday, 9 April, the department said KwaZulu-Natal MEC for health Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu and head of the national health department Dr Sandile Tshabalala had a "fruitful engagement" with the doctors, who would end their sit-in immediately.

It said the posts had been advertised that very day and the recruitment process would be finalised in 14 days so that the successful applicants could start working by 1 May.

The department added that, since the sit-in had started, it had consulted with the national Department of Health, which agreed to make the money available to fill the posts.

One of the doctors who participated in the sit-in, Dr Anele Magoso (34), said...