The Labour Court in Johannesburg granted an interdict against the doctors on strike in Gauteng, the provincial health department said on Saturday.

The Department of Health says striking doctors owe the nation an explanation for their conduct.

Too few doctors are available to treat all the patients in some departments of the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, it was reported on Tuesday.

Liberia has just 122 doctors to treat its 3,5 million people, who desperately need at least 1 000 physicians, or almost 10 times that number.

The Ugandan minister for primary healthcare tells Madeleine Bunting of his ambitions for the country.

South Africa's rural doctors have been thrust into the spotlight by the cases of Colin Pfaff, who sourced funding for antiretroviral drugs for pregnant women when the politicians failed to do so.

The Eastern Cape department of health on Thursday launched a massive campaign to educate and employ more than 1 000 health professionals.