South African doctors march

Hundreds of health professionals in South Africa have participated in marches as a protest over pay.

The doctors are calling for a 50 per cent rise in wages and more investment in hospitals by the government.

Pretoria, Durban and Bisho were the main areas in which the marches took place, with those involved claiming to be overworked and underpaid.

The South African Medical Association, which organised the marches, insisted that the action was not a strike, as many doctors remained at work in hospitals.

"We are marching to better conditions in the public sector, for you not to be in long queues," said march co-ordinator Lizzy Kwend to the South African Press Association.

She added: "We cannot take it anymore. The health system has collapsed."

The department of health in South Africa observed that "it was regrettable that it has become a habit for health unions, especially those representing medical doctors, to abandon their patients in order to participate in unlawful protest action".

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